6. Freshwater Management—Drinking-water SuppliesHon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of HealthFreshwater Management—Drinking-water Supplies6. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of Health: Does he have confidence in his Associate Minister of Health given that less than half of drinking water supplies serving populations of less than 5000 people are meeting drinking water standards?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): Yes; and I am also advised that 96.8 percent of water supplies serving more than 100 people meet the bacterial standards and 80 percent of water supplies serving more than 100 people meet the protozoal standards while 98.7 percent of such water supplies meet the chemical standards. The situation is not quite how the member portrays it. Hon Annette King: As the budget-holding Minister has the recent Havelock North drinking-water crisis and the latest crisis at Haumoana School—which has been forced to close today over an E. coli scare—convinced him to reverse his decision to discontinue funding of the subsidy scheme for small communities to upgrade their drinking-water supply? Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: The member should remember that it was actually the Labour Government that started this scheme. It was a time-limited 10-year scheme so that Government always intended for it to finish. It was actually for populations of fewer than 5000—Havelock North is considerably more. So she is a bit in danger of becoming sort of the Ryan Lochte of Parliament"—making stuff up exaggerating and then having to apologise. Hon Annette King: He has not come back in any better a mood Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Order! No. Order! That may be the member's opinion but it is unnecessary to raise that at question time. Can we have the supplementary question. Hon Annette King: If the Government is really committed to improving drinking-water quality in New Zealand why did it freeze the subsidy scheme in 2009 then restrict access to the scheme in 2011 then underspend the original funding by $20 million in 2015 and finally cancel the scheme altogether last year? Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Once again the member is conflating a couple of arguments. It was always a time-limited scheme. In actual fact Labour always had restrictions around the scheme so it was limited to decile 4 communities and higher; and no applicant who qualified under the criteria of the scheme did not receive a subsidy—unless they had not filled the application form out properly. So quite frankly what she is saying is completely incorrect.Hon Annette King: Why did he ignore the president of Local Government New Zealand Lawrence Yule who wanted the subsidy scheme for drinking water in small communities to be reinstated saying that the scheme provided vital funding support for small communities that cannot afford to upgrade their drinking water?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I have not been ignoring him. I speak with him regularly—in fact I spoke with him this morning. The point about that scheme I think has been well covered. It was a time-limited scheme started by that member's party and it had run its course—and in the end all the applicants who fulfilled the criteria received the subsidy. [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order! Mr Brownlee. Order! We need quite a lot less interjection now coming from many quarters in this House. Hon Annette King: Will he heed the warning of Professor Russell Death of Massey University who said that contamination is highly likely to happen again in rural areas or does he stand by his statement that "… we do not have these terrible water-borne epidemics in New Zealand." and that "actually campylobacter is a disease found primarily in chickens and a disease of poor food-handling."?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Once again the member is taking comments out of context. That was from a speech made in 2007 and I stand by those comments in the context they were made in at the time. The other point I would make—I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: I will just—Hon Annette King: It had better be a point of order.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Well we will hear whether it is shortly.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I am just noting that you are allowing the member to start her questions with a little flick at the person she is questioning. You are very keen on maintaining order in the House. I am just wondering whether you are going to let that practice continue.Mr SPEAKER: No. I can assure the Minister that nothing has changed in the way I have tried to attempt to keep order in this House over the last few weeks while the member might have been away. The Minister has managed to put a number of flicks in himself—I think it is about equal."