Smith Nick: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Smith Nick: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12723] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 It is a delight to be before the Committee as part of a blue-green Government that is making such strong progress on some of the key environmental issues facing the nation. Let us work through each of the big environmental issues and talk about the progress that we are making. 
Let us start with climate change. For all of the 20 years that I have been in Parliament we have debated the difficult challenge of putting a price on carbon emissions. Labour talked about it for 9 years and what happened? We had the worst increase in emissions of any country. We trebled the amount of electricity that we produced from burning coal. We had the worst period of deforestation in any period since the Great Depression. In every single one of those areas the National Government has made progress. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Why was that? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: My challenge to Mr Hughes is simply this: Labour cannot sing from two song sheets. In the House only today Annette King challenged the Prime Minister about the cost of the emissions trading scheme to consumers while Charles Chauvel has just told the Committee that Labour wants to put up the price even more for consumers and businesses. I say to Labour members that they cannot have their cake and eat it too. They should be honest and upfront about their policy. The reality is that this blue-green approach that the Government is taking to climate change and other areas is the right approach for this country of ours. 
The really important second issue is water policy. This country has an enormous challenge in this area. I am sure the members of the Government will remember the 2003 Water Programme of Action. I challenge Charles Chauvel over how many national policy statements the previous Labour Government delivered on water in its 9 years. Zip. How many national environment standards on water did it deliver in 9 years? Zip. In fact it was so embarrassing that my own politically neutral Chief Executive of the Ministry for the Environment when working for the previous Government described it as the programme of inaction. 
The actions we have seen from this Government to deal with those water challenges include firstly that we will not manage water unless we measure it. My colleague David Carter and I have brought in a very basic important measure of water and that is to require metering. We cannot manage what we do not measure. We will move from 35 percent of water being metered to 98 percent in a period of just 5 years. It is a very important step for water management. 
Secondly we have had the courage to make the difficult decision on the water challenge in Canterbury. The truth is that the previous Government sat on its hands and did nothing about the problems with Environment Canterbury. Those commissioners are doing a sterling job of making real progress in the region of New Zealand where there are big water challenges. 
Let us talk about money because this is the estimates debate. I will give members some figures. In the last 5 years of the previous Labour Government how much did it spend on water-quality initiatives? The answer is $14 million. In terms of the first 5 years of the National Government’s commitment on water quality the Budget—and remember we are dealing with the biggest downturn and the tightest budgetary process New Zealand has faced—has provided not $14 million but $94 million. We are spending $94 million on dealing with water-quality issues in the Waikato Lake Rotorua Lake Rotoiti and Lake Taupo. I tell members opposite to not stand up in this Chamber and say that members of this Government do not value water quality when in the tightest economic period since the Great Depression we have increased fivefold the amount we are spending on that important area of work.