11. Environment Minister—Statements about Water User ChargesHon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Prime MinisterEnvironment Minister—Statements about Water User Charges11. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in Hon Dr Nick Smith?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes and particularly his statement that Labour needs to come clean and state how large its new water tax is going to be. Hon David Parker: Supplementary question. [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am just going to get a little bit of cooperation so I can hear the question. Hon David Parker: Thank you Mr Speaker. Why does he stand behind the Hon Nick Smith's serial exaggeration given that Dr Smith was ridiculed at the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) and elsewhere for his thousand-fold exaggeration of water royalty revenue which he said—[Interruption]—which he said—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am having trouble hearing it. I am going to invite—Hon David Parker: Can I repeat my question please?Mr SPEAKER: Yes and I do not want the level of interjection I am getting from my immediate right. Hon David Parker: Thank you Mr Speaker. Why does he stand behind the Hon Nick Smith's serial exaggeration given that Dr Smith was ridiculed at EDS and elsewhere for his thousand-fold exaggeration of water royalty revenue which he said would be $600 billion twice New Zealand's total GDP?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Mr Speaker—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I managed to get some silence for the question to be asked. I now require silence for the answer to be heard.Hon PAULA BENNETT: I would think that there is a really easy way for us to work our way through this issue at the moment and particularly from the honourable member whom I will quote from Morning Report this morning. He described himself like this: I have been involved in water policy for decades and I would consider myself one of New Zealand's experts in resource pricing." So I would think: give us your number—give us your number. How much?Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question has been answered.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Is the Prime Minister aware that the agricultural industries of New Zealand use 6 trillion litres of water per year and at the rate of 10c per litre suggested by Mr Nash that indeed works out at $600 billion per year?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Yes I have seen reports of that and I think that if there is general debate in this House which is a healthy thing to actually have a number—if Opposition members would simply say how much they are going to tax the water we would get our way through this nicely; give us your number.Hon David Parker: If Nick Smith thinks royalties on resources are a bad idea has he raised with the Prime Minister or the Minister of Finance the idea of abandoning the hundreds of millions of dollars of oil and gas royalties that the Crown collects every year?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I do not see the similarity in those. But what I will say quite clearly is that if the Labour Party members are so keen on this new tax and they are concerned about people who cannot afford food why do they not tell them how much their food and fruit and vegetables are going to cost because of this policy. [Interruption] It will be tough—tough for them Chris.Mr SPEAKER: Order! It will be tough for the member if I ask her to leave the Chamber before question time finishes.Hon David Parker: Why does he allow Nick Smith to undermine confidence in our dairy industry by inventing wildly exaggerated water royalties when he knows they are false and unreal?Hon PAULA BENNETT: If that self-contained expert would like to actually tell New Zealand how much tax they are going to put on water and how much those prices are going to go up for them—for those farmers for those horticulturalists—which will mean that milk fruit and vegetables will cost more in their weekly groceries then we could well and truly get through this argument. Come on!Hon David Parker: Does he agree with New Zealand First then which said today that a royalty on water would mean $18 cabbages given that that would require using about a million litres of irrigation water on every cabbage?Hon PAULA BENNETT: Those who have been around a little while know in politics that if you do not fill in the detail others will do it for you. So why do you not come clean on what your water tax will be?Mr SPEAKER: Order! I apologise but over the din I had not realised that Mr Prosser was calling for a point of order. I remind members that points of order are heard in silence.Richard Prosser: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I simply wanted to point out that the Prime Minister has no responsibility for New Zealand First policy statements.Mr SPEAKER: I certainly accept the Prime Minister does not have responsibility and he is possibly even grateful for that. But on this occasion the question itself is not out of order and I invite the Deputy Prime Minister if she wants to complete the answer to do so.Hon PAULA BENNETT: I imagine that New Zealand First is responding to a policy that was put out yesterday with no detail behind it and that can genuinely be raising the costs for everyday New Zealanders. When you do not put detail in others fill it in for you—Politics 101. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I think I have been to my feet about six or eight times. It is getting to the stage when I will find somebody who will not be here for the rest of the afternoon. It would be very sad to see somebody miss a very important valedictory later. [Interruption] Well Mr Robertson instead of just nodding your head cooperate please.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Does the Government think there is a difference between a resource like gold on which we charge a royalty and which is a fixed resource and a resource like water where New Zealand has 500 trillion litres of renewable resource each year?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I would think there would be quite a key difference between a renewable resource and one that is not. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! The same warning I gave to my left-hand side also applies to my right-hand side.Hon David Parker: Well then does he agree with his coalition partner David Seymour who said today that "National's weakness and inaction on water has allowed Labour to fill a political void"?Hon PAULA BENNETT: If only you had filled the void I say to the Labour Party because what you have done is just left one a mile long.Hon David Parker: Why after 9 years in Government is National hiding from the public its own views on water royalties until after the election—is it because it is hiding its secret plan or is it because it knows the public do not trust Nick Smith or National on dirty rivers royalties for bottled water the housing crisis or his many other examples of ineptitude?Hon PAULA BENNETT: If that member thinks that Labour has literally put out a policy yesterday—what it has done is left a whole lot of unanswered questions so that actually the public are now concerned about what the cost will be of the produce that they need each week to survive on."