Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:669;Page:15729] 
6. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: What progress has there been in building a network of Kura Taiao / Enviroschools as negotiated by the Maori Party in the emissions trading scheme package of concessions announced on 23 November 2009? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 The Government and the Maori Party as part of our broader programme of work agreed to provide from Te Puni Kokiri and the Ministry for the Environment funding for the first 6 months of this year and that has been successfully delivered. We also have work under way as part of the Waste Minimisation Fund for a new programme with Enviroschools in the early childhood sector to embed a culture of recycling at an early age. I am working with his colleague the Minister of Maori Affairs on that programme and I am hopeful of being able to make some announcement on that next year. 
Te Ururoa Flavell 
: Has the Minister received any feedback in response to the Maori Party’s advocacy to retain Kura Taiao / Enviroschools and what is the long-term vision for sustaining such a significant programme? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I acknowledge the very strong advocacy by the Maori Party for both Enviroschools and ensuring that it is delivered in te reo. The Ministry for the Environment is to have discussions with Enviroschools on the te reo component of the new programme intended for early childhood centres. I hope to be in a position to make an announcement on that next year. 
Hilary Calvert 
: What is the total cost of the emissions trading scheme’s package of concessions negotiated with the Maori Party including Kura Taiao / Enviroschools and the handing over of 35000 hectares of conservation land to five iwi? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The member is incorrect in asserting that there has been a handover. There is a proposition as part of the agreement with the Maori Party to plant trees on conservation land. I think most members of this House would welcome that initiative because in partnership with the Maori Party we have been able to reverse a trend of the worst deforestation under the previous Government and actually get some trees planted in the ground. National and the Maori Party are very proud of that. 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question asked about costs. It may be that the Minister does not know what they are but he certainly has to address that question. He cannot just say— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No the question also inserted a statement about land being handed over to Maori interests or something as part of it. The Minister disputed that part of the question. If the questioner wanted to receive an answer on the cost she should have restricted the question just to that issue. 
Hilary Calvert 
: What does he say to those New Zealanders who complain that the Government gave away taxpayers’ dollars and 35000 hectares of conservation land just to secure five votes for its emissions trading scheme legislation? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The first point I would make is that the ACT Party has chosen not to take a responsible and reasonable view around climate change policy but rather has stuck its head in the sand and pretended that climate change is a non-issue. Having said that I have found a really constructive approach from the Maori Party around environmental issues and I will tell members why. It is because both the Maori Party and National want to take a balanced approach around both the environment and the economy—something that I think has been an ethos of Maori for a very very long time. 
Charles Chauvel 
: How is it fair to have made the 73 kura nationwide eligible for Enviroschools funding while the staff students and parents at New Zealand’s other 6900 schools now have to do all their own fund-raising if they want to run an Enviroschools programme after his Government cut the $19.4 million made available to Enviroschools by the previous Government? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: It is quite the contrary of that. I do not know where the member gets his information from but it is grossly inaccurate. The simple point about the representations I have received from the Minister of Maori Affairs is this: the Government with Enviroschools is proposing a programme of promoting recycling in our early childhood centres and the Minister of Maori Affairs has made representations that that programme should be available to kohanga reo. Which member of this Parliament would stand up and say that a programme should be available only in kindergartens and Pakeha centres and not in kohanga reo? [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is the House quite finished? I allowed a fairly high level of interjection around that question and answer but I would like the House to come back to order please.