Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. The Green Party is very pleased to support the Resource Management Amendment Bill. Like others in the House though I am waiting with expectation to see the Randerson review and the very thorough process that I understand that expert panel has gone through to build on some of the really good work that organisations like the Environmental Defence Society have done over recent years to look at how do we plan and manage natural resources in New Zealand. The whole concept of spatial planning is something that many people have proposed because when we're doing these big infrastructure projects how do we ensure that the housing the transport the green spaces are all well-connected that amenity values natural environment is protected? And how do we plan in a sensible coherent way? At the moment the Act has really failed the environment. It's failed people in terms of public participation because it becomes quite cumbersome. So we have had a series of changes. This bill is the latest of those. It will significantly improve the Act but it is this wider reform that Minister Parker is leading that I think will make the real substantive change that will make the Act fit for purpose in the 21st century.So with this bill it is much more than the National Party has given it credit for because of the major changes that National made which cut right across public participation and which significantly increased the powers of the Minister for the Environment to reach down and amend provisions in district and regional plans with very few safeguards. Those section 360D provisions were widely criticised when they were introduced by National—a lot of submissions to select committee against them. This bill actually removes those from the Act.The other area where this bill is really important is in the whole freshwater space. In the second reading National members attempted to suggest that the Green Party's support for the freshwater commissioners was showing that we had changed our position in terms of Environment Canterbury and the appointment of commissioners by that Government to do away with democratic decision-making. What these freshwater commissioners do is quite different. They have to be accredited under the Resource Management Act (RMA) in the same way that RMA commissioners are accredited. They have specialist expertise and we all know that the management of water in Aotearoa has become very controversial very contentious. So having commissioners who've got particular expertise with tikanga with freshwater management good RMA qualifications is a way to make sure that we get these national policy instruments like the National Policy Statement for Freshwater implemented into plans because one of the problems has been the lack of national direction until very late in the Opposition's term in Government and then they haven't been properly implemented into plans. So we need to tune up the system and these freshwater commissioners will help do that and help ensure that we have healthy waterways that all New Zealanders want to be able to swim in to gather mahinga kai from to be able to kayak in fish in and to enjoy. So the freshwater changes in this bill are major and I hope that the Randerson review and others will build on the work that's been in this bill.The other area that's really significant is the changes in relation to climate change that ensure that having passed the zero carbon Act we have a consistent regime under the RMA. As the Minister has noted these changes in terms of allowing councils to consider the impacts on emissions will only come into effect when national direction is provided. So that will ensure that there are national policy statements or national environmental standards there is consistent national direction across Aotearoa about how councils should consider emissions when they're considering resource constraints and when they're considering their plan provisions. We need to get our emissions down. It is ridiculous that activities where there are coal-fired boilers being put in that councils haven't been able to consider the emissions angle of that. So this bill is fixing things that need to be fixed but this Government is looking to make sure that the RMA is fit for the 21st century with a much more substantive review. I commend the bill to the House.