Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. Last weekend we had National's Bluegreens conference and we were promised a big announcement. What was that announcement? A $5 million fund for community groups for conservation work and beach clean-ups. That epitomises the National Party and nature—what a retread. The National Party seem to have forgotten that there was already a community conservation fund. In fact it opened for applications last week. Rehashing existing policy no new ideas—that is National.New Zealanders need to be able to enjoy nature. We need to restore the dawn chorus in our forests. We need to be able to have healthy oceans where whales dolphins fish and seabirds flourish. But the previous National Government slashed conservation funding. It ignored the fact that our most essential infrastructure is nature itself. It gutted several hundred rangers from the Department of Conservation (DOC) while allowing the seas to be plundered by fishing interests. National failed to act to strengthen the Resource Management Act to have a strong national policy statement to protect our rivers and streams—instead they got dirtier with dairy intensification. But with this Government in just over two years we have set out to right that neglect with a series of ambitious programmes to address the challenges that National in its blue-smoke era failed to do.So under this Government we have seen really good progress. The key is passing the zero carbon Act to ensure that we have a framework to enable us to reduce our carbon emissions and protect our climate. We have seen a record investment in conservation not just in Budget 2018 with an extra $180 million but again in Budget 2019 thanks to the international tourism and conservation levy. That means that visitors can contribute to protecting nature in Aotearoa to protecting the landscapes that they come to enjoy.What has the result of this been? A real investment in dealing to predators. In the current financial year Te Papa Atawhai—the Department of Conservation—has organised the biggest ever aerial predator control operation: over more than 800000 hectares to deal with possums rats and stoats to ensure that birds like the kākāriki and the kea are protected from those mammalian predators. We have ensured that there's been support for kākāpō. The mast year has meant more pests but it's also meant the best breeding season ever for kākāpō and there are now 211 birds—and really honour the work of Auckland Zoo the Dunedin wildlife hospital and all of those volunteers who have supported the DOC staff in ensuring that the aspergillosis outbreak was treated and contained.Under this Government we've had the biggest ever addition to a national park with 640000 hectares added to Kahurangi National Park in the Mōkihinui catchment. We have named the 11th great walk—Hump Ridge Track in Southland—and we've had a huge effort by the Department of Conservation and the Defence Force to clean up the Fox River landfill. There is so much more to do. We have a global biodiversity crisis. We have a crisis in New Zealand but working alongside mana whenua with community organisations—[Interruption]DEPUTY SPEAKER: Excuse me. Order! Order! In fairness to the person speaking. Thank you.Hon EUGENIE SAGE: Thank you Madam Speaker. We are tackling that crisis.It's rich to hear Mr Brownlee talk about the environment because over and over again I have been congratulated for the action that this Government is undertaking on waste doing more in the last two years than the National Government did in nine.We're setting up the design criteria for a container return scheme because New Zealanders use about 188 plastic bottles each year and the bulk of those end up going to landfill. So we need to have a container return scheme. We're designing waste out of our system encouraging resource recovery with criteria for mandatory product stewardship—again the first time that a Government has proposed that.We've got a major resource recovery programme under way to improve and better coordinate kerbside recycling so we get more resources being recovered and reprocessed rather than going to landfills and we're expanding the landfill levy so we have more revenue to recycle back into waste minimisation—all issues that the National Party failed to tackle. This Government has got an ambitious programme. It's well under way. We need more time to go further and faster.