Simpson Scott; Tinetti JanHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Just wanted to remind the Minister in the chair Jan Tinetti I'm still waiting for an answer to my questions around the release of harmful toxic substances for legitimate scientific research" in terms of quantum who makes the decision and what possible examples might the Minister have for that. But while the Minister is consulting with officials on that one I'm keen to go on to clause 4(4) which repeals the definition of "reception facility". In the spirit of plain English I would've thought that as a layperson most New Zealanders would consider a reception facility to be a wedding venue possibly one that required the deposit be paid. But here we have it in this piece of legislation; a reception facility is nothing further from a wedding venue than could possibly be imagined. It seems that a reception facility is to now include "a facility for the reception of—(a) harmful substances from ships … (b) sediment (as defined in section 444A(3)" and "ballast water from ships" has been removed. But I'm intrigued to know again given the clarion cry for plain English why the term "reception facility" is being used when the popular context for reception facility bears no relevance at all to this piece of legislation. I wondered whether officials might assist with that and whether a deposit had been paid on the reception facility.Hon JAN TINETTI (Minister of Internal Affairs): I just wanted to go back to the question around exemptions. This would be used very rarely and would be decided upon by the Director of Maritime New Zealand and would be carried out in times when there was research into areas such as emissions reduction which are very important areas. So as I say it has to be put into there because it's very rare that it would be used in New Zealand waters but when we're talking about research of that nature around emissions reduction it's really important that we give the Director of Maritime New Zealand that ability to be able to do that to be able to make those exemptions.Hon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Surely that can't be. I can't imagine a situation where in the name of climate change and emissions reductions there would be a need for the release of harmful substances. What kinds of harmful substances does the Minister have in mind? What possible situation could arise where that could occur? I know that the limits of science are forever expanding but this strikes me as literally a statutory exemption to pollute which is exactly the opposite of the intent of this piece of legislation. It seems to me to be quite illogical that on the one hand we are trying in this bill to provide for shipping that is cleaner and greener and more environmentally friendly and yet we have a statutory exclusion that allows for the dumping of harmful substances—toxic substances probably—all in the name of what we're told is emissions reduction. Now I and I think some of my colleagues—Stuart Smith who is our spokesperson on climate change looks as perplexed as I feel about this issue. Again it seems to me that there is an inconsistency here that hasn't adequately been explained and just using emissions reduction seems to me to be nothing short of a mere convenience to try and justify a statutory exclusion for the dumping of toxic waste by parties unknown in quantities unknown in circumstances unknown for purposes unknown. The Minister can surely give us some insight into what limitations might be provided and what protections there could be for our beautiful natural marine environment against this statutory exclusion.Hon JAN TINETTI (Minister of Internal Affairs): This is a provision that has to be there as part of Annex VI. It is part of the trials for ship emission reduction and control technology research. It is something that there is no choice around; it has to be there. As I've said it'll be used very rarely in the New Zealand context. That is why it has been given to the highest authority in the Director of Maritime New Zealand to be able to make that exception."