Sage Eugenie: Resource Management (Restricted Duration of Certain Discharge and Coastal Permits) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSage Eugenie: Resource Management (Restricted Duration of Certain Discharge and Coastal Permits) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 07 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17637. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]EUGENIE SAGE (Green):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I am pleased to take a short call on the Resource Management (Restricted Duration of Certain Discharge and Coastal Permits) Amendment Bill. It is a beautiful 2-hour walk through mixedrātā andpōhutukawa forest from the source of the Tarawera River at Lake Tarawera to the Tarawera Falls. The river has shaped spectacular gorges and deep pools for swimming. Above the falls a torrent of water suddenly disappears underground to re-emerge out of fissures in a 60-metrerhyolite cliff. It creates a very spectacular waterfall. The Tarawera Falls is one of New Zealand’s natural wonders. It is part of a scenic reserve and the water here is clean and clear. You can see to the bottom. From the falls to some distance downstream the Tarawera is all that New Zealand rivers should be: clean clear and beautiful.Closer to the sea at Kawerau the Tarawera is a national disgrace rather than a natural wonder. It is a national disgrace because we continue to allow the Tasman Pulp and Paper mills now operated by Carter Holt Harvey andNorskeSkog Tasman to pollute the river. The mills are responsible for the longest-running industrial pollution in New Zealand. They have turned the river into a “black drain”. Yes it is improving but it is still totally unacceptable and it is what this bill is remedying.The Green Party wants all of our rivers from their sources to the sea to be clean and healthy. We want an economy where businesses use modern technology to reduce their impacts on the environment. There were 148 submissions on this bill; 128 of those supported the bill. Those submitters wanted the river to be cleaned up so people can collect kai so they can swim in the river and so the Tarawera River is returned to its pre-1955 state. The Green Party cares about these places and it cares about people.I am very proud of my colleague Catherine Delahunty for standing beside the community of Kawerau beside NgātiTūwharetoa Ngāti Awa and NgātiRangitihi and working hard for a clean river as well as jobs at the Tasman mills. There is a well-known Māoriwhakataukī: “Ko au ko te awa; ko te awa ko au.”—I am the river; the river is me. Catherine Delahunty lives thatwhakataukī. She came to Parliament to clean up the Tarawera River and this bill is part of her huge mahi for the river and advocating for the community for a clean river.As others have said the bill amends the Resource Management Act to put a 5-year time limit on the term of a coastal permit or a discharge permit that was issued under the exceptional circumstances section in the Act. The Tasman mills have operated in Kawerau for more than 50 years. Section 107(2)(a) was inserted into the Resource Management Act specifically to provide for the discharge. It allows the discharge even if it impacts on fish and other aquatic life and even if it causes a conspicuous change inthe colour of the river. Thanks to section 107(2)(a) in claiming exceptional circumstances the mills have twice got resource consents that allow them to continue the discharge of pulp and paper effluent including organochlorines into the river. The Resource Management Act does not contain any definition of exceptional circumstances. It contains no limit on how long exceptional circumstances can apply. There is no restriction on it being used more than once in relation to the same activity.This bill would apply considerably more certainty by limiting exceptional circumstances to 5 years. That would provide time for a transition and it would provide a strong incentive to consent holders—in this case the Kawerau mills—to reduce their impacts sooner rather than later. The submission ofNorskeSkog Tasman and Carter Holt Harvey was that they were working to improve the colour of their discharge but there is no commitment to doing that in a timely way or to significantly reducing the other impacts of the mills’ discharge. This bill would change that. It is a stand for a clean river. The work of the Land and Water Forum is not going to change the state of the Tarawera. This bill would and that is why it should be passed. Thank you.Catherine Delahunty: Mr Assistant Speaker.