Flavell Te Ururoa: Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:631;Page:3582] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker tena tatou katoa. From the Maori Party perspective our responsibilities to care for our ukaipo our turangawaewae takiwa and rohe are central in expressing the authority that whanau hapu and iwi have over our ancestral land our resources and well-being. Within this we exercise the responsibility we have towards the environment certainly on behalf of those who will benefit from the legacy of this care but we do so also out of respect to Papatuanuku—Mother Earth. This sort of thinking has been passed down from generation to generation. We inherit the land from those ancestral links. In our world view waste disposal can reduce or destroy the life-supporting capacity of soils. It damages the mauri and tramples over the life essence of the land and we must do what we can to protect the environment and improve our capacity to live sustainably. 
To this end the Maori Party supports this bill and commends Nandor and others whom he mentioned earlier for their initiative in bringing forward strategies to ensure a dramatic reduction in waste disposal by homes businesses and public organisations. We are pleased to endorse the approach of making producers responsible and of encouraging the design of environment-friendly products and we endorse the ultimate aim of a minimal waste society. Tangata whenua have always been concerned about the release of pollutants such as sewage discharges construction and demolition wastes and hazardous wastes into the environment. We have an intense interest in the issue of discharges on to land and in the effects those discharges have on the mauri of water wahi tapu and taonga such as food and weaving resources. 
Indeed so strong is our disgust of the amount of solid waste disposed of in landfills clean fills and incinerators that our people often talk about it by asking: “Are you happy to treat your mother in that way?”. We teach our babies not to trample on Papatuanuku—Mother Earth—and to pick up their litter. That is a responsibility we can all take on to ensure the well-being and future health of the environment. 
It makes one wonder why it has taken so long for such a sound and sensible idea to make it to this Chamber. It is all very well to have the New Zealand waste strategy but it is a waste of words if it lacks teeth. More weasel words are found in the packaging accord where people can choose whether they want to reuse repair or recycle materials—or to just keep on going to the landfill. Well we need to get real. This bill will help to put incentives in all the right places so that producers and users—not just the wider community—get real and pay the costs of the waste they produce. Having a landfill levy and other economic instruments such as a refundable container deposit are simple ideas that could help reduce our waste by as much as 85 percent—that would be a good idea for the GDP and even better for the genuine progress index. 
The Maori Party is astounded that good ideas like these and their economic benefits and health and well-being outcomes have been simply considered so trivial to this Government. This House must recall with shame the 30 years of neglect associated with the Ivon Watkins-Dow plant at Paritutu in New Plymouth which is one of the largest historical polluters in New Zealand. The Maori Party repeatedly asked the Government to take seriously the health problems that have resulted from dioxin contamination including birth defects behavioural problems diabetes and the strong association between the exposure to dioxin and cancer risk. Then just a few months ago the UN special rapporteur Professor Rodolfo Stavenhagen referred to the situation in my electorate of Waiariki urging: “The Crown must take an active interest in supervising the compliance of the paper company in cleaning up the waste site at Kawerau and the waste disposal build-up at Maketu.” 
Again those are not new issues. The Kaituna claim which was first lodged back in 1978 was another one. The Motunui Waitara report of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1993 dealt with the discharge of effluent on to shellfish-gathering beds that were of significance to the Te Atiawa people. In a lot of the reference to Gisborne earlier we are aware of the ongoing anger of tangata whenua about the offensive discharge of sewage domestic and industrial waste water and solids from an outfall pipe flowing into the Poverty Bay area which is a problem that dates back to 1964. 
Mana whenua have consistently presented their objections about environmental abuse the contamination and the waste disposal build-up. The ideas are not new but it took an expert from overseas to point it out—then he was treated with a barrage of abuse for telling us how it is. We in the Maori Party are extremely pleased to support the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill in order to reduce the production of wastes at source to minimise wastes in production packaging and transport and to encourage all New Zealanders to take responsibility for Aotearoa now—before it is too late.