Sage Eugenie: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSage Eugenie: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 19 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:8325. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]4.EUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Has he given clear national direction to local authorities to help them protect coastal communities from rising sea levels; if not why not?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Deputy Leader of the House) on behalf of theMinister for the Environment: The Ministry for the Environment has provided guidance within the uncertain bounds of the science. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has projected sea level rises by the end of the century of between 0.28 and 0.98 of a metre. With this range of projections it is not possible to provide a definite sea level rise to plan for. We welcome the report of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment out today and we will be proposing changes to the Resource Management Act the national policy statement and the guidance to councils in response to her we think very sensible report.Eugenie Sage: Given his Government’s reliance on providing guidance but not clear policy direction to councils despite their request for such direction when does he expect the Ministry for the Environment to finish updating its 2008 guidance to councils on sea level rise?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Of course there is guidance in effect today but as I said in the primary answer we are committed to updating that and also working through in a careful considered way the recommendations from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. But let me make very clear that when it comes to climatic issues such as this region-by-region approaches are required. Simplistic nationalised ones such as those the Green Party advocates are not wise in our view.Eugenie Sage: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question included “when” and the Minister did not answer that.Mr SPEAKER: Order! No. The question was a very long-winded question starting with “Given”. When a member asks a question as general as that it gives the Minister quite a lot of licence with answering. Tighten the question.Eugenie Sage: Why is the Government happy to propose a national policy statement for plantation forestry despite regional variations in soils land forms and erosion-proneness but not provide councils with a similar level of consistent national guidance to prepare their coastal communities for sea level rise?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: As I said in the primary answer in terms of the changes we will be proposing in light of the report of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment they are to the Resource Management Act and they are in terms of national policy statements and the guidance to councils in response to her sensible report. But I would add that being consistent across the country does not mean being uniform or having as I have already said simplistic one-size-fits-all solutions that the Green Party would advocate.Eugenie Sage: Does he accept that there will be a significant cost to ratepayers and widely differing outcomes for homeowners if every council has to come up with its own approach to tackling the risks of sea level rise to its communities?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: No not necessarily. As I say one size does not fit all. It may be the case—for example in Sumner—that it does not necessarily have to be costly planning restrictions. It may simply be sea wall extensions. There are a variety of responses at a variety of levels.Eugenie Sage: In working through the parliamentary commissioner’s recommendations will his Government commit to clarifying the guidance and to providing stronger national direction to local governments to deal with inevitable sea level rise?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: As I hope I have made very clear we think improvements are required and there will be improvements in relation to that guidance because you know it is in a sense a living document. We certainly want to review it in light of the sensible report of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.Eugenie Sage: Will he commit to starting work in this term of Government to consider what financial assistance if any should be provided to New Zealanders who find themselves in the unenviable positon of owning a home in an area that is deemed to be at risk of sea level rise; if not why not?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Firstly in fact there is funding that has been made available in relation to adaptation. I accept that primarily that has been in relation to helping our international friends and primarily in the Pacific. I think the direct answer to the member’s question is no not necessarily but we will carefully work our way through the recommendations in this report. We do not think it is the time for knee-jerk responses and indeed in the report Dr Jan Wright the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment also makes clear that that is her view.Eugenie Sage: Is his Government’s reluctance to commit to a strong national policy direction on sea level rise another example of this Government wanting to shirk the hard decisions and leave them for future Governments and future generations?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: No.