Dyson RuthHon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): I have to say that that member Erica Stanford refers to herself in far more glowing terms than her colleagues refer to her and her contribution in Parliament. I'm delighted to speak to this environment and conservation Estimates and the reason that I'm pleased about it is that it is integral to our reputation as a country. We pride ourselves and have grown our reputation on our regard for the natural environment and natural capital.That has been under threat for a long time and I'm so pleased to see as the member Jenny Marcroft referred to the increase in conservation funding as just one of many examples throughout the vote that we're considering at the moment where this coalition Government—the combination of Labour and New Zealand First and Greens—has made a real contribution to ensuring that our reputation is delivered on the ground that it isn't just talk about 100% Pure" but that it is actually delivered and that we can have a country where we can swim in our rivers and not get sick. Unlike the former Minister for the Environment Nick Smith's wadeable river standard we are looking to improve the quality of water and that work is reflected in this Budget.I want to mention just a few of the key topics covered by this area. The first is climate change. I've been a member of GLOBE-NZ since it first started up. I want to acknowledge Stuart Smith as the current chair of GLOBE and say that I do think that in many regards that cross-party approach is a good one. It has to be entered into on the basis of a genuine commitment to work together to get agreed outcomes not as a means of petty point-scoring. I think GLOBE has set an example of how that can be done and I look forward to seeing others in this House as well.I've mentioned the freshwater issue. I come from Canterbury and we're currently enduring—my colleague Matt Doocey will know as well—the torment of having chlorinated water because of contamination in our well heads. We hope that that taint in our water is gone soon and that we can return to our own pure water. It's been a wake-up call for our region and I think we've learnt the lessons and I wish Hastings had learnt them earlier actually. I admire our council for putting the health and well-being of our citizens first but fancy having in New Zealand the situation where we have water that is not fit to drink as they had in Hastings and as we currently have in Canterbury.I also want to acknowledge Minister Eugenie Sage in the waste management area. She's put a lot of work and effort into thinking about how to deal with a challenge that has not been dealt with adequately anywhere in the world and I look forward to seeing the outcome of some of that work.I laughed at some of the National members saying you know "This isn't all fixed in this first Budget." Nine years in Government led by that party and not a single fix in the environment or Government or conservation spaces but after less than a year the National Party is demanding us to have fixed all the mess that they left behind. Well we're working on it but it won't be delivered in the first year—that's for sure. I want to acknowledge the members of the select committee who considered the Estimates before us. I think the Environment Committee works hard. I want to acknowledge all the Ministers and Associate Ministers who have worked so hard in this space and I think we've got a good report to debate as a result of that. Just in conclusion I want to acknowledge the outgoing and the current Parliamentary Commissioners for the Environment. They're also covered by this appropriation. They're Officers of Parliament. They're independent; they don't have Ministers. But Dr Jan Wright and the Rt Hon Simon Upton—one of them previously and one of them more in the future—I think will do a great credit to that position as an Officer of Parliament. Jan Wright has issued some exceptional reports based on science independent thinking and robust debate. We can use those for good policy-making in this Parliament and that's where our policy should start from. I have confidence that the Rt Hon Simon Upton—despite his past!—will do an equal job as Dr Wright has so I look forward to seeing further work in that space from him. In conclusion I think we've had an interesting debate. There's a lot of common ground that we should be working on in the environment and conservation space and I welcome National to join it."