Pham Lan; O'Connor GregLAN PHAM (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. When I joined this Parliament I was really heartened to learn of and also experience the immense privilege that we have here to actually access information in this place. I know especially for my colleagues across the House that is even more accessible when the Public Service can actually go to work and do the consultation get the data get the evidence that Ministers need to actually make truly informed decisions. I want to raise that today in the context of this Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill because this bill makes a mockery not only of this Government's claim that they care about data and evidence but it also makes a mockery of their duty of care that Kiwis expect of their Government when it comes to responsible governance for te taiao or our environment and within that Kiwis' rights to actually have their say.So I want to begin there on the consultation aspect because official advice across these supplementary analysis reports make it clear that the Government simply has not had the time or the care about what Kiwis would have to say on these bills. Let's take for example the coal mining aspect. There was official advice that said there was no time for consultation none with iwi Māori no assessment of the Treaty impacts including on the Crown's Treaty settlements or commitments. For the amendments that have to do with fresh water consultation was limited" with limited feedback that they did receive from iwi Māori was "one of disappointment and frustration" and concern about the potentially irreversible negative impacts on freshwater quality. So that's a bit of a taste of what the Government might have heard if they did take the time to go out for public consultation before getting to this stage. But let's go back to the data and evidence part of what this Government cares about and ask what the experts actually say. Because when these changes were first announced 50 of Aotearoa's top freshwater experts and leaders were so concerned about it that they actually organised and wrote a letter to the Prime Minister and Ministers clearly and concisely stating their concerns. I want to quote them here: "New Zealand's rivers lakes and aquafers are in a dire state. … The country's freshwater policy including Te Mana o te Wai is the result of decades of public concern and policy development. To weaken this now would be to take the country and our communities backwards." That's just the freshwater aspect of this bill.The rest of it contains a litany of shortsighted environmental destruction. I wanted to take the example of the coal mining aspects because I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I read the supplementary analysis report for this bill on "amending the consenting pathway for coal mining in or around wetlands and significant natural areas". This I might add is in addition to the three-year suspension for actually identifying these significant natural areas for councils. The advice from officials made it clear that it is not possible to quantify how many new coal mines or extensions for existing coal mines would be affected by the proposed changes. That there is a risk of irreparable damage to and loss of wetlands if a consent pathway is to be provided.I don't know where to start with this aspect of the bill other than to say the science is crystal clear that if we want to prevent a future filled with climate catastrophe and extreme weather then fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. Protecting nature or keeping fossil fuels in the ground is not some woke idea or whatever the latest culture war buzzword is; it's about the scientific fundamentals of human survival on this planet that we call home. When this Government won't listen to the science the evidence to iwi Māori or to the public we have a serious threat to our future in our hands and the only solution is to get organised get loud and make our voices heard. On Saturday 8 June we'll be heard. Thank you Mr Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The Hon Andrew Hoggard—you're taking this full five-minute call?"