Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Otirā e ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. I am also pleased to take a call as a member of the Local Government and Environment Committee and to just say how grateful I am to the previous speaker Joanne Hayes for clarifying that the reason why our rivers are dirty in this country is the weather.Fletcher Tabuteau: The weather.MEKA WHAITIRI: It is the weather. It should be no surprise to members on this side of the Chamber and to all New Zealanders listening that it is the weather's fault for creating dirty rivers!I just want to draw the Committee's attention to the Estimates for Budget 2017—and the member did talk about an increase in the Budget. Of course most of that is in the New Zealand Units and she did highlight some of the investments. I want to talk about the five new policy initiatives that are part of this Budget. It is with real concern that I note that the investment by the National Government in what I believe are critical policy issues will be laid out for all to see.The first one is domestic emissions reduction. This Government believes $1 million in 2017-18 and $3 million over the following years will address improvements on reducing New Zealand's domestic emissions—$1 million. Then we have got the Paris Agreement on climate change. Hold on—we cannot even get $1 million out of the National Government. There is $924000 and that would fund the ratification of the Paris Agreement and a plan for domestic action to mitigate climate change.Then there is the Marine Protection: Advancing Regional Processes. It gets $250000—$250000 is the commitment from the National Government to provide policy advice. In my calculations that might be two senior policy advisers or three juniors at a stretch. But that is the National Government's commitment to marine protection in this country. Then we have the urban development capacity where we have got $1.469 million in 2017-18 and a further $2.1 million over the following 3 years.Then there is Te Mana o te Wai Fund—$1 million. It is $1 million aimed at improving water quality for freshwater bodies that are important to iwi and hapū. Every hapū and iwi up and down this country will see that figure and understand the commitment from this National Government to addressing iwi and hapū water-quality issues that the previous speaker spoke about—this Government's commitment to the environment.I want to touch on the Freshwater Improvement Fund which the previous speaker spoke about. This is the $100 million fund over 10 years that this National Government has committed to. If you look at the name Freshwater Improvement Fund" you would think it is for improving fresh water would you not?Hon Ruth Dyson: What's it called again?MEKA WHAITIRI: It is called the Freshwater Improvement Fund.Hon Ruth Dyson: Yep you would think that.MEKA WHAITIRI: Right. It was announced by the National Government in 2014 and how many applications have we had to that fund to date? None.Hon Ruth Dyson: What?MEKA WHAITIRI: None.Catherine Delahunty: Zilch.MEKA WHAITIRI: Zilch. It was 2014 and we are now 3 years down and we have not had one single application to that fund. That is the National Government's commitment to freshwater management in this country. Everybody around the country will know that this National Government is not in the game of protecting our environment and Budget 2017 confirms that.I want to talk about shifting goalposts because we were told by this Government that we could achieve swimmable waters. Remember those members are the ones who talked about: "You're only going to get wadeable. That's it—wadeable." You see they cannot even get their own commitment to freshwater management in this country because now they are talking about achieving swimmable rivers by 2040. So on one hand we are on wadeable and now we are trying to move to swimmable. Of course the target time under this Government has been extended out to 2040 but of course if we have a flood or major weather catastrophe we are going to be set back because that is the reason why we have dirty rivers in this country. That is again the excuse that this National Government gives time and time again around its commitment to cleaning up our waterways for this generation but also for the rest who come after it.This is a half-baked commitment to the environment. It is something that we on this side do not support because it is not a real commitment to ensuring that our environment our rivers and our conservation estate are protected."