Sage EugenieEUGENIE SAGE (Green): I will stick with the theme of water and take it in the climate change direction. In Vote Environment there is over $713 million for the climate change appropriations but a large part of that is administration of the emissions trading scheme and in the rest of the Budget there is a $23 million allocation to provide advice and implement tools for environmental management. If the Green Party was in Government we would be spending a lot just on reducing emissions and we have a major plan to do that but we would also be supporting councils and local communities in adapting to climate change because a changing climate is not some distant threat. It is happening now in the form of extreme weather and it is costing our communities and our people and our landscapes a lot.We have seen that in Otago and in Canterbury over the last weekend. Doorknocking beside the Heathcote River on Sunday to see how people were we saw the tragedy of those homes where floodwaters having gone through people's homes wetting furniture and carpet and inundating them with sewage-contaminated floodwater. People do not always have insurance. The recovery from that is really difficult.We have seen the Government step in and respond when there is a natural disaster like earthquakes both in Christchurch and in Kaikōura but when it comes to adapting to climate change the Government just looks the other way. It is leaving communities on their own to deal with the issues of climate change. You have got councils like Whakatāne dealing with Edgecumbe and with Matatā and the whole coastal erosion flood hazard risks there. It is the councils that are having to have the difficult conversations with their communities about whether there is a retreat strategy how that is paid for and just how to work policy around it.We have seen this Government totally fail to provide any updated guidance on how to deal with coastal hazards. The most recent technical guidance was in 2008 yet we have got councils like Kāpiti like Christchurch and like Whakatāne and Hawke's Bay Regional Council dealing with these front-line issues right now. It is the councils that pay the costs of cleaning up after these extreme weather events. Just going into the city on Monday and seeing the large number of potholes on the road as the water has got underneath and the huge number of slips—and it is the councils that pay for that. Councils need guidance and a partnership with central government to tackle adapting to climate change yet this Government has its head in the sand on that.There has been a total failure by the Ministry for the Environment. The Minister mentioned at the select committee that there is a technical working group that has been set up. It is supposed to be releasing an interim report very soon but perhaps it will be like the updated guidance on coastal hazard issues. That has been promised for several years and it is still yet to eventuate. We have seen in Auckland massive problems with the stormwater infrastructure totally inundated by these heavy rain events. We will see more of those and yet we do not have the partnership that we need between central government and local government to help councils upgrade their infrastructure and cope with these intense weather events.The Green Party has got a plan to reduce our emissions right across the energy the housing and the agriculture sectors and we also want to work with councils to work out how we can adapt to climate change. Our Green Infrastructure Fund which we announced recently is part of our commitment to make that transition to a cleaner economy to bring the Government and the private sectors together to finance new clean infrastructure projects in the solar and the wind energy sphere in recycling in energy efficiency and elsewhere. We need to deal with climate change. We need a plan to reduce our emissions. The Green Party has that and we will be promoting much more help to councils to adapt as well.