Roy Eric: Waste Minimisation Bill — In Committee 
Roy Eric: Waste Minimisation Bill — In Committee 
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ERIC ROY (National—Invercargill) 
: 
 I would like to take a short call on clause 1. I was on the Local Government and Environment Committee for a small part of the time that this bill was being considered. I note that Dr Norman says that it was National’s delay that caused this bill to take some time to come back to the House. But I think it must be almost a world record that the bill has had three sponsors. Mike Ward was the sponsor of the bill during the period when I was taking unplanned sabbatical leave and was not in the House so there was certainly a period then that it could have been advanced if it had been adequately drafted. 
I spent 1 year on the select committee and I do not recall that we spent very much time on the bill during that year. We were dealing with other matters and then subsequent to that it took a couple of years to get it here. I think comment has been made that the bill in the form that it was originally drafted was not gathering a great deal of support. However in the caring sharing environment of the select committee and with the good work of Nicky Wagner it has been made into a bill that we are happy to vote for. 
I approach this whole matter I guess from a pragmatic viewpoint. One cannot help but look at history and look at civilisations that do not— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: Not all of history please. 
ERIC ROY 
: Does the Chairperson not want to hear my contribution and the relevance of it? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: I do not want to hear the entire history. We are debating clause 1 and we are talking about an amendment. 
ERIC ROY 
: For goodness’ sake! The point is simply this Madam Chairperson. One looks at civilisations that no longer exist—the Phoenicians the Egyptians the Mayas the Incas and a whole range of others—and one has to ask whether history will look at the age of industrialisation and mark it down in the future as a time that might have lasted for a significantly shorter period than some of these other civilisations. That is the point. That is why we cannot continue to utilise or to waste resources that we are harvesting and mining from the ground and to expect that to go on ad infinitum. This bill is a common-sense approach but in a way it does not embrace what is required as a resolution of the issue of how long the industrialised age will last. When we consider this we realise that recycling and waste minimisation are just two items. There is also the use of sustainable inputs the modifying of lifestyles and a whole raft of things we need to embrace. 
This bill is but a step forward. What I like about Supplementary Order Paper 217 in the name of Nicky Wagner is that it says we should actually embrace the issue more widely and treat waste as a resource. That lifts the game a little bit more in terms of broadening our application of practices that will make the industrial age more sustainable. That quite frankly is the point I start from when we consider this legislation. 
Throughout the Committee stage I have said a couple of times that although I am happy to embrace the bill and say we are voting for it I feel that it tends to be in places a little bit prescriptive from a central government point of view and that it does not do enough to sell the package of engaging local bodies and individuals. In some places the setting of fees and levies is certainly very prescriptive and it is my view that more progress could be made if local government and individuals and businesses were required to consider just their responses. 
I grew up reading the writings of Alvin Toffler Rachel Carson and a whole lot of writings that really impressed upon me the need to respond as individuals and as a nation and this bill does a little bit of that. It is important that we embrace practices that will make the industrialised age something that looks after us into the future and continues to provide for us. Our continual harvesting and mining of resources out of the earth and our expectation that that can go on ad infinitum cannot continue.