Genter Julie Anne: Environmental Reporting Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGenter Julie Anne: Environmental Reporting Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 05 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16374. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): The Green Party loves New Zealand and we want to look after our precious places and our people. New Zealanders know that we all benefit from clean rivers that our kids can swim and fish in. We all benefit from clean air. At the moment air pollution contributes to our high rate of respiratory disease in this country. We in New Zealand all benefit from our “clean green” brand particularly businesses that are selling goods and services overseas. Our “clean green” brand has underpinned our competitive advantage and the success of some of our biggest exports including our dairy exports and our tourism. If we do not look after our environment we will not be able to look after our economy and we will not be able to look after our people.As any small-business owner knows what you measure is what you care about. So it is incredibly important that we measure the right things and that we report them transparently and independently so that we can make changes to ensure that we continue to look after our natural environment which is so critical to the success of our economy.The Green Party will be supporting this Environmental Reporting Bill at least at this first reading. We have serious concerns and misgivings about the bill. Of course the goal is a mandatory state of the environment reporting regime and it would be wonderful if that was achieved in a way that actually guaranteed transparent reporting that is independent from Government interference. As we have found it is not unusual for Governments to manipulate environmental data if the data does not suit them.In 2008 the Green Party revealed that the Labour Government had suppressed chapter 13 of the 2007 state of the environment report. The suppressed chapter had suggested that increased car use dairy intensification and over-consumption were driving environmental decline. It concluded that regulation was needed to protect the environment and our clean green reputation. Of course the Government of the day did not want to hear this because it was not convenient and it would mean changing thestatus quo to get a better outcome in the long term in the future. The Green Party is here to look after the long term to look after our planet and our people in the long term. Of course because the Government of the day suppressed the chapter and did not want New Zealanders to hear about it the Green Party found it and released it.The need for independent reporting of the state of the environment is even more acute with this current Government because it has consistently made decisions that are not in the interests of our long-term environment. Just a few examples of its poor record on the environment include the gutting of the water provisions in theNational Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2011. Of course the Green Party fought hard to get the Land and Water Forum to come to conclusions. It made some great recommendations but the Government did not take them up.For climate change the Government set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050. Of course its own departmental data shows that by 2028 we will have increased our greenhouse gas emissions threefold over our 1990 net emissions.This is a Government that talks a lot about the environment but the reality is that it is undermining the environment at every turn. So we have great reason to doubt whether it is actually proposing a bill that will lead to true independent reporting on the state of the environment that is not subject to manipulation from the Government.Our specific concerns which we will be watching very closely through the House include the fact that the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s role has now been reduced to one of simply commenting rather than her office being funded to actually do the state of the environment reporting. We have concerns about the potential chilling effects of the non-disclosure provisions and the potential for political influence because the bill requires the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Statistics to set out through regulation the topics to be reported on. Reporting on impacts on the state of the environment must include an assessment of the economic benefits derived from resource use which will of course privilege resource use over protection of the environment. And statistical measures promoted by Statistics New Zealand for reporting may not be the best indicators of the state of the environment.So the Green Party will as always be watching this bill very very closely as it progresses through the House and we will be standing up for our natural environment which underpins our economy and looks after our people. Thank you.