Sage Eugenie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSage Eugenie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 09 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:11769. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.EUGENIE SAGE (Green)to the Minister of Conservation: Does he agree with former Otago Conservation Board chairwoman Associate Professor Abby Smith who said restructuring at the Department of Conservation has left it “dead in the water”; if not why not?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Conservation):No but I accept that the restructuring is unsettling for staff of the department. The former chair was particularly concerned about the lack of progress on marine protection which is ironic when we are this year set to gazette a record 10 marine reserves around New Zealand. However Otago is the only conservancy to have no marine protection and her criticisms reflect 10 years of frustration as board chair in not being able to establish any.Eugenie Sage: When he talked about our tourism industry’s reliance on “breathtaking landscapes and a stunning variety of unique flora and fauna.” in his Valuing Nature Conference speech this morning why did he not mention the Department of Conservation’s own 4-year plan which states: “The number and condition of many native plants animals and ecosystems continues to decline.”?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: One of the points I made at the Valuing Nature Conference this morning was the huge commitment by the Department of Conservation to the work in protecting a whole number of species and four steps that we need to take to improve in that performance. I would welcome the Green Party’s support for that sensible vision for conservation.Eugenie Sage: How can he say that the National Government values nature when it has slashed Department of Conservation funding with the loss of more than 160 conservation jobs and it has left the department—as it says in Treasury papers and the department’s 4-year report—in a position where it will have to do less from 2015-16?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The Green Party’s rhetoric about the Department of Conservation budget being slashed is just not credible. Let me give the member the numbers. In 2008-09 the last year of the previous Government the Department of Conservation budget was $304 million. This year the Department of Conservation budget is $334 million. It is true that the Department of Conservation like all Government agencies is not able to enjoy the massive increases in public spending that got New Zealand into a heap of economic pickle but this Government is committed to an efficient pragmatic and effective department.Eugenie Sage: In his Valuing Nature Conference speech this morning when he talked about our successful dairy industry relying on “copious volumes of fresh clean water” why did he not mention that under the National Government 50 percent of our waterways are no longer fit for swimming or that New Zealand fell from second to 43rd in the world according to Yale University’s water rankings?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The Green Party’s assertion that 50 percent of New Zealand waterways are unfit to swim in just shows the gross exaggeration by that party and is wrong. I would further point out that this Government has increased by threefold the increase in protection and restoration of waterways. I give just one example. Take Lake Rotoiti one of the iconic lakes of the North Island. It is cleaner than it has been for more than 30 or 40 years because of the funding that this Government has committed to its clean-up.Eugenie Sage: I seek leave to table a news centre transcript of a Radio New Zealand interview with Associate Professor Abby Smith yesterday—Mr SPEAKER: If it is a transcript of a radio interview it is available to members if they want to search for it.Eugenie Sage: A transcript is not publicly available. It was commissioned by the Green Party from the news centre.Mr SPEAKER: If members want to get hold of it I am sure they can.