Collins JudithHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura): Thank you Mr Speaker. The National Party are not supporting the Resource Management Amendment Bill and certainly not at this stage. We'd like to see if there are any improvements through the select committee process but certainly it seems very obvious from the member who's just resumed his seat David Parker from his speech and certainly from the content of the bill that it's primarily about preventing housing getting built quickly and it's more about trying to stop things getting done that need to be done.The bill largely reverses the changes made to the Resource Management Act (RMA) by the National Party's Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 which was all about reducing bureaucracy that gets in the way of creating jobs building houses good environmental management and National's legislation provided for a greater national consistency more responsive planning simplified consenting and better aligning the RMA with other laws. There's nothing in this bill that's going to address housing affordability. In fact it will make building houses more difficult. It's very odd that the Government is introducing this bill in relation to the freshwater proposals in it when it's apparently as a Government still consulting on freshwater proposals. It makes an entire mockery of the consultation process around fresh water and it also overrides all of the consultation happening with local government about their obligations. It is actually a very arrogant piece of work from the Minister.It's also very interesting that it's being introduced now when there is yet another working group or—what are they called now?—expert panels supposedly looking at and reviewing the entire RMA and how it fits in with other legislation. It seems remarkably remiss of the Government to be putting this bill forward when there is apparently this enormous amount of work going on.It seems that the only thing that this Government can agree between the three parties of Government on the RMA is that they don't like anything that National did. That seems to be the only thing that they can agree on which is why—two years into the term and after all the talk and obviously the moment of coming to the right view by the Hon Phil Twyford that the RMA stops at the moment houses being built in a more efficient and effective manner more cheaply and more affordably for people—they have now come to the conclusion that they need to do something on the RMA but very cynically have left the major work to be reported on just before the next election. So there is no time at all to implement it and they don't have to try and get agreement between the Greens Labour and New Zealand First. It is a cynical cynical ploy as is this bill.Another issue around the fresh water and the intrusion of stock into waterways: farmers do not like having their stock go into waterways; they do not want to be part of that. We've had 98 percent of waterways fenced by dairy farmers that they have any access to. We have had a tremendous response over the years from farmers to keeping water free of stock manure. One of the things that is concerning here is there is a doubling in the fee of the fine to $2000 dollars for any intrusion of stock into waterways. And that would be OK if it wasn't just about farmers because there is no doubling—no doubling at all—of the fine for people who throw rubbish into waterways. There is no doubling whatsoever of any fines for people who discharge waste from factories into waterways; there is no doubling at all. The only people being targeted by this anti-farmer Government are farmers—the only people; nobody else.So Tamati Coffey over there—MP from the Labour Party—he laughs at that. Well I actually don't think that's very funny. I don't think it's funny for people who throw rubbish into waterways to be treated to half the extent of a fine as a farmer whose stock might break down a fence as they do occasionally and end up in a waterway and causing problems obviously. And that is something which I think is remiss. It is in fact something that could have been addressed.Those of us who now live in the urban areas will know that our urban waterways are by far the worst in terms of cleanliness of any of our waterways. Certainly always picking on farmers may be very easy for the photo op but actually it's really unfair.We have farmers in this country now feeling that they are so subjected to judgment on the basis that they are farmers—and that judgment is so invariably unpleasant and negative. Those of us who grew up on dairy farms remember the time when farmers were respected in this country and we now have a Government that has gone out of its way to make farmers feel that they are involved in an activity that is bad for New Zealand despite the fact that they are of course the people who bring us in the export dollars that pay for the cancer drugs that pay for the schools that pay for just about everything that we import into this country. And I really am concerned that we now have very severe cases of depression and mental health issues in the farming community that are significantly worse than they ever used to be.And when I hear young farmers—well actually many farmers now are young compared to me—saying to me in their 30s Look I'm just a dairy farmer." I feel so sad—so sad. And the people like that over there are the people who make that happen. The people who think it's so funny—and they laugh at this. They laugh at it because they think it's so funny that farmers who live to do a brilliant job—no better farmers in the world than New Zealand farmers—are brought to suicide and to mental health issues and that party over there laughs. I despise those people for what they do.And Mr Peters—what a nonsense—tells them he's the farmer's friend. He supports this bill happy for them to be fined double than the urban dwellers—happy for that—happy for them to be able to do that; never lets an opportunity go by to go and do them over just to stay in power.I have to say that this is another hit job on the developers who are building the houses—that actually build the houses unlike the KiwiBuild nonsense that we've had from this Government—it's another hit job on farmers and it's another hit job on the economy. If the Resource Management Act needs reforming as we know it does and so do the other side then why don't they wait for their working group to come back? The answer is that they can't find anything to agree on except they want to all disagree on whatever Nick Smith did or the National Party did because they are driven by a vendetta because they hate the fact that National was and is the party not only of business and Government but actually for the whole of New Zealand—people who care about New Zealand and who are happy to do what we can to help this country thrive.This bill does not help this country to thrive. This bill does not help to get houses built faster. This bill will be yet another brake on houses being built. It's all very well to think "Let's all attack the farmers." but actually they're the people who pay the bills for this country. And the moment we forget that we might as well just pack up and we won't worry about the cancer drugs for kids because there won't be the money for it. It's all very well sitting there smugly thinking about "It's a great time to get back the farmers to voting David Parker out in Otago." But I tell you what: by goodness they were right weren't they?"