Norman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Norman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 24 July 2008. Volume:648;Page:17399. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
3.  
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: Does the Government still promise New Zealanders it will clean up the nation’s rivers to a level where they are safe to swim in within a generation; if so can he say which objectives if any in the proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management released yesterday give a deadline by which our rivers and streams will be safe for New Zealanders to swim in? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 I refer the member to pages 4 6 7 and 9 of the proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management but suggest that he works from the one that was issued not the one his friend gave him earlier which was an earlier draft. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Can the Minister confirm that those page references refer to a date of 2035 but that this date—2035—is held and mentioned only in the preamble to the national policy statement which has no authority is not binding and has no legal effect and therefore will have no effect whatsoever in actually cleaning up our rivers and lakes by 2035?  
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No. 
Su’a William Sio 
: How does the proposed national policy statement improve the guidance to councils on local consultation on water issues? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The local government consultation process allows changes around policy statements and plans. It allows communities to express their social economic and environmental aspirations so that there can be the best use of fresh water in the region. The methods of achieving “swimmability” will obviously differ between Otago and the lower Waikato. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: What does the Minister think that Kiwi parents will make of his national policy statement when its ultimate goal is that 17 kids per 1000 will be made sick when they swim in their local river and that this goal may never even be achieved because there is no time line or deadline for achieving it? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Unlike that member I do not aim to make kids sick.  
Dr Russel Norman 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I raise it in terms of whether the Minister addressed the question. It was about the national policy statement; it was not about whether I aim to make kids sick. I ask that the Minister address the question.  
Madam SPEAKER 
: I think the Minister did address the question. I listened carefully to the question and the elements were there and the Minister did address it. He was asked the question as the Minister not as an individual.  
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The issue of water quality is a serious one. The Green Party quite properly asked the Minister questions about it but the Minister simply insulted the Green members by saying that they are somehow out to make children sick. I do not think that is appropriate conduct and I ask you to reflect on whether those sorts of personal derogatory statements to members are fair. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Firstly Madam Speaker the question itself tried to imply that the Minister intended to make people sick; and secondly it misrepresented what the standard actually means by turning it round and making an imputation on the basis of that. If members ask questions in that form they can expect to get a fairly short sharp response. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: As I have said before in this House I know that this is difficult for members to accept but often the answers reflect the questions. I do listen to them carefully and that answer did address the question but obviously not to the satisfaction of members in this House.