Kedgley Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Kedgley Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:622;Page:17303] 
9.  
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: When will the Government identify register and ensure the clean-up of contaminated sites around New Zealand? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Associate Minister for the Environment) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister for the Environment 
: Our policy is to have implemented remediation or instituted a clear management programme for all high-risk contaminated sites by December 2015. 
Sue Kedgley 
: What is the Minister doing to remove the lingering stigma attached to properties in Auckland that have been publicly identified as potentially contaminated even if that is now removed from the Land Information Memorandum reports and when will the Government fund the testing of these potentially contaminated properties to remove the uncertainty surrounding them? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: The Government has committed to helping local authorities pay for soil testing and remediation of contaminated sites and of course that funding is available from the Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund. In relation to the first part of the question I think the important issue there is the clear reaction of property owners to the placing of conditions on Land Information Memorandum reports and I think the way to work through that is by not being alarmist but by developing strategies jointly with local government to carry out appropriate sampling regimes. 
Nanaia Mahuta 
: Can the Minister confirm whether Auckland properties built on land previously used for horticultural purposes are in fact sitting on high-risk contaminated sites? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: That is most unlikely. Some sites might have elevated levels of contaminants but they are not considered an immediate risk to human health. Auckland City Council has reversed the decision to include such information as was discussed earlier on Land Information Memorandum reports and the Ministry for the Environment and my colleagues the local Auckland MPs are working with local government to clarify the council’s responsibilities in this area. 
Keith Locke 
: How is it that the Government can come up with $30 million-odd to fund an America’s Cup yacht campaign virtually overnight yet it is procrastinating over funding the testing programme—beyond the very small amount in the remediation fund—that would enable householders to actually find out whether their sections are contaminated? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I see no link between the two events that the member raises and nor do I agree that the Government is procrastinating. Our Government is working and making good use of its very productive collaborative relationship with local government to reach good outcomes on this matter. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Why 11 years after New Zealand was described in the  
New Scientist  
as a “poisoned paradise” and 5 years after Ms Hobbs became Minister for the Environment do we still not have a national environmental standard for defining contaminated sites or national standards for testing subdivisions? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: As the questioner knows the ministry is working and has provided advice to local government on the second matter. The development of the appropriate environmental standards is also being worked through by the Ministry for the Environment. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Can the Minister confirm that the contaminated site clean-up fund provides only $2 million a year although the cost of cleaning up our worst contaminated sites was estimated in 1993 to be $2.6 billion; and does that not mean that it will take 1300 years to deal with the problem? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: Not necessarily. The figure of the annual funding is accurate but regional councils have since 2003 been granted funding from the Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund for the investigation and remediation of 13 high-risk contaminated sites so we are clearly making progress towards our 2015 goal. As the questioner will also be aware $10 million for two projects has been approved—for the clean-ups at Mapua and the Tui mine. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Does the Minister agree with Pete Hodgson’s 1993 comment about contaminated sites—that “New Zealand is sitting on a time bomb.”—if so would it not be better to act now and rather more quickly than at the rate of the 13 properties a year he is boasting of than fiddling until the time bomb explodes? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I certainly do agree with the comment attributed to my esteemed colleague and I think that members of the House would agree that this Government is working productively and hard to control the ticking.