Carter KahurangiKAHURANGI CARTER (Green): Thank you Madam Speaker. Today we are here talking about waste minimisation and in particular the waste disposal levy. Now our children deserve us to be really serious about climate action about reducing waste and about protecting our environment and this Government is completely unserious about protecting the environment. It is all slash and burn.Now sitting here on a long weekend I know that the other side and all of us here would rather be with our families. I just called by teenagers to let them know that I won't be seeing them for a while. But we are here even though we know the Government is going to push this bill through. And I think why are we here? Why are we here fighting this when we know that they're going to just push it through without that public consultation without the select committee process? Well we are here because it is our job to be the voice for the communities who didn't get a chance to talk in select committee—the ones who this bill most affects. And it will be on record in the Hansard and I am so proud of that and that is why I am prepared to give up time with my family because we are paid to be here for the New Zealand people. And it will be on record in the Hansard that we fought for our next generation so that our tamariki aren't having to deal with the waste that we are not being serious about dealing with today. So I'm happy to be here.New Zealanders care about waste minimisation and they deserve a Government who cares about waste minimisation as well. We have a massive waste problem in this country—1.76 billion plastic containers and bottles per year 17.5 million tonnes of waste per year overflowing rubbish bins plastic pollution littering in our rivers. But what this Government wants to do is slash and burn funding for other areas of environment which my colleagues here have spoken about and take that money away from waste minimisation which has a $2.4 billion infrastructure deficit. That deficit means that we are moving away from resource recovery.I've talked about why resource recovery is so important. Resources are finite. Resources are finite and we are just throwing them into a tomb which is our landfill. When we value those precious resources we invest our waste levy into bold solutions into solutions that actually make a massive difference for everyday New Zealanders because it's about system change. It's not just tinkering with it around at the bottom it is taking our waste problem seriously.Now Minister Simmonds in the committee of the whole House talked about New South Wales as an example of why we should broaden our definition of what this waste levy can be used for. Well if the Minister is really serious about us comparing ourselves to New South Wales then she would have accepted—the Government would have accepted—my amendments to increase the waste levy. Because at the moment New South Wales is sitting at about $160 per tonne. In New Zealand we're at $60 per tonne. So you just have to do the maths there. You cannot compare us to a place that is over double the waste levy.New Zealanders need to come in line with other countries like Australia and the UK who are putting waste minimisation at the top of their priorities. So what needs to happen in this bill—and I really really implore the other side to really think about the legacy that will be on record for the future generations when you continue to just let this planet burn. We can make a meaningful impact so that we are not stealing the futures of our tamariki so that they can have the legacy of abundance that is their birthright and that you are putting their futures over a few quick bucks for landlords.This bill has huge implications for New Zealand. It is not a pragmatic approach. It is smoke and mirrors. And just because you say you care about the environment we can actually see that actions speak louder than words and your actions are speaking very loudly today.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Please don't use the word you".KAHURANGI CARTER: Thank you. And the Government's actions are speaking very loudly today.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you.KAHURANGI CARTER: Now on this side of the House we actually have vision. We have a vision for a future where our kids can live on a liveable planet where they can walk to school and there's fruit hanging from the sidewalks and they don't need to go and spend hundreds of dollars on fruit and vegetables every week because it is just everywhere. And do you know what? That is what we can achieve.Just like up in the Far North at Roma Marae. At Roma Marae—a very very remote part of New Zealand who has a lack of waste infrastructure and not that many shops. So what the community did because they were resourced by this levy was bring together the environment hub. They brought together the Community Business and Environment Centre they brought together Para Kore they brought together the Panguru kura to all come because communities actually know the solutions that they need for their communities. They came together. We talked about waste minimisation. We talked about solutions. And together with the community with the businesses decided that actually something that would really help with waste minimisation would be growing a food forest. Now that was three years ago and that food forest now is providing kai for the tamariki who were there helping grow it.And these are the initiatives that we need to be investing in local initiatives. And when we understand that New Zealanders care about Papatūānuku and New Zealanders care about our children's futures New Zealanders want this Government to take climate action and they want the New Zealand Government to take plastic pollution seriously.This bill should never have been brought in without consultation. I spoke yesterday to the Zero Waste Network I spoke to the founder of Wānaka Wastebusters I spoke to the founder of Para Kore I spoke to the founder of The Rubbish Trip and all of them say that they want to be heard on this matter. These are the experts who have been doing this work since way before it was cool. But New Zealanders know that waste minimisation is cool. That is why they are out there doing the work and our Government needs to stop putting all the responsibility for waste minimisation on the people and start being serious and looking at actual system change.When I worked at the Ministry for the Environment I worked in strategic partnerships. That was where we were able to see community we were able to see business we were able to see Government come together and work in partnership. Even if we had different worldviews we were moving towards the same goalpost because we were serious about waste minimisation and that is where that vision is. It lies with everyday New Zealanders it lies with community it lies with the businesses and the Government needs to come to the table as well. Because when we all put our heads together when we come up with innovative clever solutions we can make a real impact and reduce waste in this country—1.76 billion plastic containers and bottles per year; that is not good enough. That is not good enough for our kids and their legacy of abundance that they deserve.I want to talk about why it's so important to me that my children and their children and every generation after can live on a liveable planet and can have everything that they need to thrive. That's because nature Papatūānuku and Ranginui provide us everything we need to sustain our lives: mind body and soul. So we need to do everything we can to respect and protect Papatūānuku and that is what waste minimisation is about. It's about waste not want not it's about dealing with our own rubbish so that our tamariki and future generations aren't living on a burnt planet."