Guy NathanHon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki): I hope that my contribution will excite you! This is a very exciting bill; it's well worth a read. I just want to follow up on some of the comments that Stuart Nash has made. It's ironic that he's so positive about this scheme when right now in his region they're crying out because of a shortage of water. We know on this side of the House that in New Zealand we only collect and store about 2 or 3 percent of the rain that falls in this country. So water storage has got to be a way forward but the politics about this particular issue are that the coalition Government doesn't support projects outside of this one. The reason they support this one is that it was already pretty much contracted and they couldn't weasel their way out of it.Importantly I want to acknowledge Dr Nick Smith for supporting this local bill on behalf of his council and his community. The Waimea project has been around for 18 years. I want to acknowledge Julian Raine Murray King and other leaders in the community who have stuck with this project because water storage projects take an incredibly long time until the first drop of water comes out of the pipes. The significant point about this project is that it pretty much touches all of the important aspects of water storage. It is not well understood.The first one is the economic considerations and those are real. This area in the Waimea Plains and around Nelson is pretty much the fruit bowl of the South Island. They produce apples hops and other berries. They generate about $400 million. But of course what happens in the summer is that there are significant water restrictions placed on them. This project will generate an extra $100 million for that region. The other important aspect is social. So this water from the Waimea dam will support those communities—i.e. drinking water. The other aspect is environmental and what was really telling is that any water scientist in New Zealand could come and submit on this project. You would expect the critics in New Zealand about water quality to line up in their droves and submit against this project. Not one water-quality scientist submitted in a negative way towards this project—i.e. they came in and said This ticks all the environmental boxes." So that is a huge positive for this project.Two other very important points: I acknowledge Crown Irrigation Investments who have worked tirelessly with the council and the community to get this project across the line. They've moved their terms of the contract—it's about $35 million—to get it across the line. I acknowledge those leaders in the community for staying with it right through to this point.The final comment I want to leave you with is David Parker's contribution on the first reading of this very important bill—actually Stuart Nash touched on it right now and that is the land swap to do with the Department of Conservation (DOC). The Minister David Parker acknowledged in his first reading speech that the Parliament is going to have a look at these issues one day. Well actually they need to have a look at them now because to get water storage projects across the line often it requires a land swap deal with DOC and that process needs to be better than it currently is. We've just heard from Stuart Nash who said that there needs to be a pragmatic solution found and it needs to be based on common sense.So with those comments I support the bill. I acknowledge Dr Nick Smith for bringing it through and it's been a good robust select committee process. I look forward to the debate this afternoon. Thank you Mr Speaker."