2. Freshwater Management—Bottled Water ExportsJAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for the EnvironmentFreshwater Management—Bottled Water Exports2. JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Does he stand by his statement in regard to water that we need to be sure that any steps we take are fair to all users"? Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): Yes in the context of the calls for a moratorium on bottled water exports. These amount to one-millionth of total water use in New Zealand and it would be unfair to treat them differently from other water users like irrigators soft drink manufacturers or breweries. James Shaw: Is it fair that in places like Ashburton millions of litres of water can be bottled and sold without paying for the water whilst the locals who rely on local bore water cannot safely give it to their babies to drink? Hon Dr NICK SMITH: That is why this Government has advanced a programme of water reforms including the setting of minimum flows in areas like Canterbury where there are now significant red zones and where there is a ban on extraction. The difference is that the ban is on extraction for all users and not simply identifying bottled water exporters which use one-millionth of the amount of water of other users. James Shaw: Is it fair that the company that bottles water at Otakiri pays only $2003 a year to access water from which it stands to make $255 million a year? Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I note in the figures from Statistics New Zealand that the amount of exported water from New Zealand actually dropped by a million litres a year last year—or 10 percent—so some of the dreamy ideas about super-profits are incorrect. The second thing is the Government is simply saying that you need to treat different water users on the same basis and whether it is a winery whether it is dairy farm or whether it is a factory you should not have different rules simply based on some prejudice. James Shaw: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is not clear to me that the Minister even addressed the question let alone answered it given that he was talking about the way that water gets allocated. I was asking whether it was fair that the company at Otakiri pays only such a small amount to access that water. Mr SPEAKER: I appreciate the point the member is making but I listened very carefully to the answer. I acknowledge there was quite a lot of interjection coming but in the latter half of the answer there was no doubt in my mind that the Minister addressed the question that was asked. James Shaw: Given that water bottling as he insists may be such a small percentage of water use in this country compared with irrigation how is it fair to allow a single irrigator to take a million litres of water a day leaving Hawke's Bay high and dry? Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Irrigation and use by farms is by far the largest user of water but it is also New Zealand's most successful industry. I note the Minister of Finance noted the huge growth in wine exports and that is because we have water. We have large amounts of exports income earned by our meat industry—in fact 70 percent of New Zealand's exports rely on water. James Shaw: Is it fair that Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival had to buy water for its event from a local bottler because its own water was too risky to drink? Hon Dr NICK SMITH: There is an absolute issue for our local authorities to do better at managing their water supplies and that is why on an issue like Havelock North the member should focus on competent management of engineering services and not simply blame the dairy industry as the member's party has. James Shaw: Is it fair for the Minister for the Environment to belittle the concerns of 16000 signatories to an environmental petition calling for the protection of water calling them "silly" and saying they merely had a "bee in their bonnet"? Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I make no apologies for our Government being a party that is going to base its data and its decisions on good information rather than the Green Party which wants to base its policies on things that are so disconnected from an actual world. James Shaw: Given that the National Government has made such lofty goals as (1) barely affordable housing by 2020 (2) rivers that will not make you sick in 23 years' time (3) raising the superannuation age in 20 years' time and (4) being predator-free in 30 years' time is the Government planning to achieve anything before it is voted out this September? Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The difference between our side of the House and his is that we are focused on a long-term future plan for New Zealand and I would just invite the member to do a simple thing like support the Government's resource management reforms which will require farmers to fence their streams so that they can be cleaner and houses to be more affordable rather than some of the stupid ideas like banning bottled water exports which make such a small difference. Hon David Parker: How much of New Zealand's water is pristine mineral water—so pure it can be bottled and sold commercially without treatment—and why does he deliberately conflate that precious scarce resource with the trillions of litres in polluted rivers or Auckland floods? Mr SPEAKER: Again there are two questions there. The Hon Dr Nick Smith can address one or the other. Hon Dr NICK SMITH: A little bit of basic hydrology for the member is that when you get a big rainstorm some of that water goes into the aquifer and it is filtered through nature and ends up as pristine water. So for the member to sort of pretend that a major wet event like there was in Auckland at the weekend does not contribute to New Zealand's overall water base is ill-informed."