Fox Marama: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 05 April 2016. Volume:712;Page:10146. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party) to the Minister for the Environment: What steps is he taking to ensure that regional councils are effectively implementing the objectives of their regional resource management plans related to the protection of water quality from further degradation?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): The Government is progressively strengthening the requirement on all regional councils to better protect our water resources. Prior to 2009 the Government set no minimum standards or requirements and just left it all to the regional councils. The three significant steps that we have taken as a Government are requiring compulsory metering in 2010; the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Quality which requires it to be maintained or improved; and committing over $300 million in clean-ups. I am also currently consulting on further strengthening the national requirements including new national rules on excluding stock from rivers and lakes.Marama Fox: Given that Ngāti Kahungunu had to spend more than $100000 to mount its appeal in the Environment Court to protect environmental standards what steps is he taking to ensure that other iwi and community groups will not have to spend those amounts of money to ensure regional councils will improve water quality over time?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The national policy statement introduced by this Government is having a positive effect. Ngāti Kahungunu succeeded in the Environment Court only because it was able to attribute to the national policy statement the requirement to maintain and improve water quality. A further measure that is going to help iwi to drive improvements in water quality are the measures that the Māori Party has advocated in the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill which ensures a stronger voice in making sure that we look after New Zealand’s precious freshwater resource.Marama Fox: Given that the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council argues that it is impossible to achieve no degradation through the groundwater quality of the Heretaunga Plains and the Ruataniwha Plains aquifer system how will he keep the council honest to ensure it complies and gives effect to the Environment Court’s order to maintain and improve water quality?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council as with a number of other regional councils does have the problem of long hydrological cycles where some pollution that has occurred over 30 or 40 years will take some time to work through the system but that does not take away our responsibility and this Government’s role to ensure that we set those strong long-term targets. A further measure that we are taking to strengthen that is the Environment Reporting Act which we passed last year with the support of the Māori Party which for the first time will require regional councils to openly disclose exactly what their water quality is and for it to be independently audited. That will be published for the first time in New Zealand in April next year. I am also undertaking a review of the national policy statement and its implementation by regional councils and I am open-minded about constructive suggestions to further strengthen it.