Sage Eugenie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sage Eugenie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 29 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2578. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
11. 
EUGENIE SAGE (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: Does she agree with the statement by Dr Morgan Williams in the WWF New Zealand report released yesterday that “successive governments have failed to put in place the policies and mechanisms required by our Earth Summit commitments”; if not why not? 
Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 No because New Zealand has in fact taken significant steps to deliver on those commitments.  
Eugenie Sage 
: Given that the World Wide Fund for Nature  
Beyond Rio 
 report notes that almost all measured water-quality parameters have declined over the last 20 years will the Minister give urgency to implementing the Land and Water Forum’s recommendation that the Government use a national instrument to set limits on how much pollution our waterways can cope with; if not why not?  
Hon AMY ADAMS 
: I would first of all note that most of the data in that report is significantly aged and does not relate to this term of Government. It has been taken selectively and out of context. But none the less I will agree that our water quality is a significant issue which this Government is prioritising and taking real action on like instituting the Land and Water Forum. Actually this Government is interested in making progress in water-quality issues which is more than we can say for the Labour-Green Government of the 9 years that we had under them.  
Eugenie Sage 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not—[ 
Interruption 
]  
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! There will be silence for me to hear the point of order. The member wishes to raise a point of order.  
Eugenie Sage 
: I believe that the Minister was incorrect in referring to a Labour-Green Government. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member cannot use a point of order to disagree with an answer. That is not within our Standing Orders.  
Eugenie Sage 
: Is the Minister aware of Dr Young a freshwater ecologist with the Cawthron Institute and his comment on the  
Beyond Rio 
 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature that “The water quality chapter convincingly portrays a sad picture of the current state and trends in New Zealand’s freshwater ecosystem integrity.”; if she is will she do as the former Minister for the Environment did with the Land and Water Forum’s recommendations on the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and dismiss them or will she take real action—urgent action—on water quality so that we can enjoy our lakes and rivers and so that present and future generations can enjoy them? 
Hon AMY ADAMS 
: I am aware of a number of comments in respect of the report that was released yesterday. I do wonder whether some of those commentators are aware of some of the glaring errors in the report like attributing commitments to New Zealand that do not apply to us but I can assure the member that the Land and Water Forum is a process that this Government instituted and that we take very seriously and we will be giving its recommendations full process and consideration.  
Eugenie Sage 
: Does she agree with the statement of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment yesterday that “We are dropping the ball on the environment this is a failure of successive governments and bodes badly not just for the future of our environment but for the future of our economy.”? 
Hon AMY ADAMS 
: In respect of the National-led Government no.