Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
TUESDAY, 25 JULY 2023
(continued on Wednesday, 26 July 2023)
NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT BILL
In Committee
Debate resumed.
Part 3 National planning framework (Continued)
CHAIRPERSON (Greg O’Connor): Good morning, members. Welcome back to the discussion on Part 3 of the bill.
Hon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Thank you, Mr Chair. Well, it’s good to be back here in extended sitting hours at 9 o’clock in the morning. For those people who may be watching at home or listening on the radio, we are debating in the committee of the whole House the Supplementary Order Paper 389 on the Natural and Built Environment Bill, in the name of the Minister for the Environment. We’re up to Part 3 of the legislation. It’s the area that involves environmental limits, the national planning framework and the various requirements for the framework, how the framework is to operate, what the purpose of the environmental limits are, the purpose of targets, for instance, and how environmental limits are to be set.
I want to, at the outset of this first call, just remind the committee of the whole House, and, indeed, as I say, anybody else that is listening or tuned in this morning, that the National Party opposes this legislation in its entirety. So when we go through the particular clauses of the bill—all nearly 900 pages of it—we are doing so knowing full well that if we have the opportunity and the privilege to lead a new Government in October this year, this legislation in its entirety will be repealed before Christmas.
CHAIRPERSON (Greg O’Connor): Bearing in mind, we are on Part 3, Mr Simpson.
Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: That’s a commitment we have made and that’s a commitment we will stick to. So when we debate clause by clause—
CHAIRPERSON (Greg O’Connor): Mr Simpson!
Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: Yes, Mr Chair.
CHAIRPERSON (Greg O’Connor): We are on Part 3. Let’s stick with it, please.
Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: Well, I thought, Mr Chair, it was worthwhile picking up on where we were at—
CHAIRPERSON (Greg O’Connor): Well, no, this is the whole idea. We are hearing this part by part. So let’s stick with the part, please.
Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: Sure, OK. So I want to particularly refer to Part 3 and clause 48, which is the “Form of targets”. Clause 48(1) says that “A target is a directive made in the national planning framework or in a plan.” “A target—(a) must”—it says in clause 48(2)—”be able to be assessed; and (b) must be achieved by a specified time; and (c) may be expressed as a series of steps, each with a time limit, designed to achieve progressive improvement over time.”
Now, I’m keen to know from the Minister in the chair a bit more about exactly how it is going to be that the assessments are made as to time and what those steps will be. I know that there was quite a bit of discussion at select committee. There were a number of submitters who were interested in this area. We got a range of answers from officials at the time, none of which were, in my view, anyway, particularly compelling in terms of the detail about the actual form and shape of the targets. So if the Minister wouldn’t mind perhaps enlightening the committee of the whole House as to particularly how the form of targets will be assessed, what measures will be used, what methodology, what science, what technology, and who’s going to do it. That would be helpful. Thank you.
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): The purpose of mandatory targets is set out at clause 37B, which is to drive improvements where things are not in a satisfactory state. The time frames to meet those targets could be set out in national direction. For example, the national policy statement on freshwater management does, effectively, have limits and targets where water bodies are below those desired attributes or below the limit set for those desired attributes. And there’s a period that is expressed somewhat loosely as being a generation for councils to bring things back to a decent state, and then it’s up to regional councils how they progress towards that.
