9. Freshwater Management—Commercial Water Exports and West CoastEUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the EnvironmentFreshwater Management—Commercial Water Exports and West Coast9. EUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Should New Zealanders get a say over whether a private company can extract glacial water flowing out of a national park in the heart of the South West New Zealand Te Wāhipounamu World Heritage area?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): All New Zealanders get an opportunity to have a say on how water is managed when a council works through its regional plan as occurred with the West Coast in 2014. Whether they get a say on an individual application is up to the council depending on the scale of the application the rules that it has in its plans and its environmental effects on the application. The Okuru Enterprises proposal in South Westland was originally publicly notified and submitted on when first consented.Eugenie Sage: Is it acceptable that the West Coast Regional Council repeatedly renewed a 25-year-old consent behind closed doors to allow Okuru Enterprises to sell pristine water from a national park before it finally lapsed?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The West Coast Regional Council went with five authorities that were affected parties: the Department of Conservation Fish & Game New Zealand the local iwi the Westland District Council and a local landowner. All five of those parties approved of the renewal.Eugenie Sage: Is he saying that New Zealanders have no right to have a say on water exports even where the water comes from one of our national parks and where it is being taken in such large quantities that it is not being put in bottles but is being pumped into ships?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Every New Zealander had an opportunity when the West Coast Regional Council publicly notified its water plan to have a say. Given that this application has been sitting around for about 20 years unused there was ample opportunity for the member or anybody else to be able to submit to the regional council that there should be limits or some special process around such applications.Eugenie Sage: When over 16000 New Zealanders signed a petition opposing giving away our water how is it OK for the regional council not to tell anyone about this plan to take billions of litres of water from our national park?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I remind the member that New Zealand uses only 2 percent of its freshwater resources. I further remind the member that the Government does not support a ban on the export of water which last year was only 8 million litres—a very very small fraction of the amount of water that is extracted in New Zealand.Eugenie Sage: Does he accept that his proposed changes to the Resource Management Act as our major environmental law will make it even harder for the public to have a say on projects like this bulk water export being given away for free?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Quite the opposite. The resource management law reform bill before Parliament will improve the way our fresh water is managed. It is a very simple area. Most people in this Parliament would welcome stock being fenced from our waterways and I would invite those parties that are genuinely concerned about water quality to support that bill so that that national requirement can come into place.