10. Freshwater Management—Land and Water Forum RecommendationsEUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the EnvironmentFreshwater Management—Land and Water Forum Recommendations10. EUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Does he agree with Forest and Bird president Mark Hanger who said in putting the Forum's recommendations to one side the Government has undermined the good faith and trust that we put in the Forum to help address the freshwater crisis facing all New Zealanders"?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): No and that view is not shared by the 65 forum organisations nor the majority of the environmental groups that are on it. The forum's recommendations have been at the core of the national overhaul of freshwater management. We have put some recommendations to one side such as the forum's recommendations that the Government put Government appointees on all regional councils. Given the member's vehement opposition to us doing this in Canterbury I am not sure the member would want us to do that to every regional council.Eugenie Sage: What is the point of collaborative processes such as the Land and Water Forum when he cherry-picks its recommendations forcing major environmental organisations like Forest & Bird and Fish and Game New Zealand to withdraw?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I would note that important environmental groups like the Federated Mountain Clubs Whitewater NZ Ecologic the Environmental Defence Society and Landcare Trust do not share those views. I think it is fair to say that with Kevin Hague leading Forest & Bird it has mistaken its role and is now an extension of the Opposition.Tim Macindoe: What has been the response of the Land and Water Forum to the Government's latest steps to improve water quality including the goal of 90 percent of lakes and rivers being swimmable by 2040?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The forum said in its press release last week: "The proposals represent another important step forward in improving New Zealand's [approach to] freshwater management." It said that it particularly welcomed that the Government had adopted the stock exclusion proposals that were hugely important to improving freshwater and on which regional councils had made very little progress over the last 25 years. It also included areas that required further work over the detail particularly around the issues of ecological health and nutrients and how regional councils should respond when those indicators show that things are not making progress.Eugenie Sage: How can he say that the Government has made progress with the Land and Water Forum's recommendations when its own secretariat in its assessment shows that over half of the recommendations have not been implemented?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Yes it is true that we have not implemented recommendations like establishing a new land and water commission or recommendations like the Government putting appointees on every regional council. But if you look at the core of what it recommended and that was a national policy statement that this country never had until this Government—Hon David Parker: That's because you spiked the last one. You spiked the Sheppard one.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: —regulations for stock exclusion regulations—well Mr Parker you had 9 years and you did nothing and we have made far more progress in 8 years and we are proud of it.Eugenie Sage: Was lobbying from irrigators and the dairy sector the reason he largely ignored the forum's recommendations on swimmability and ecological health and came up with something very different?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No. The key issue about swimmability is standards that are practical. The reality is that New Zealand rivers regularly flood. During those periods E. coli limits peak. And with the swimmability standards that are being proposed by members of the Opposition you would end up labelling most of the rivers in New Zealand as unswimmable simply because they flood and that is illogical and we are the party of practical environmentalists."