Urgent call for law to monitor air, water

Legislation to monitor the environment in a consistent and independent way has still not been introduced, despite being promised by National before it was elected nearly four years ago.

And a symposium that was to have been held in February on the Government’s proposed Environmental Reporting Act did not go ahead.

Fish & Game says the need for independent monitoring of the environment is ‘‘absolutely urgent’’.

The Green Party says the Government has not provided sufficient funding for the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment to do the monitoring. The party also questions whether the Government wants to know the true state of waterways and air.

One of National’s 2008 election policies was to introduce an Environmental Reporting Act that would require independent fiveyearly State of the Environment reports.

Last August, the then Environment Minister Nick Smith said: ‘‘We are in a poor position to provide hard evidence that our clean, green brand is justified’’ and said that New Zealand was one of only a few OECD countries without a legislative basis for national reporting on the state of the environment.

A discussion document entitled ‘Measuring Up’ was released and submissions closed in October. All but one of 76 submissions supported the Government’s intention to improve environmental reporting.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Tasman District Council were the only regional councils or unitary authorities to not make submissions.

The proposed bill would see the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment assess issues such as water and air quality, coast and oceans management, waste and animals.

Fish & Game chief executive Bryce Johnson said the Government’s delay was unacceptable and the bill’s implementation was absolutely urgent.

‘‘The environmental reporting in New Zealand is a disgrace given the extent to which we rely on our brand and we have very little integrity to put behind it,’’ he said.

Greens’ water spokeswoman Eugenie Sage said the Budget last month increased the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s funding from $2.6 million to only $2.61m despite the commissioner telling a select committee that she would need an extra $1.35m and nine more staff.

‘‘If the commissioner is to produce a credible national report in 2013-14, that work needs to start now, and the funds should have been allocated and legislation introduced,’’ Ms Sage said.

‘‘The message is often unpalatable. Reports like these expose the fact that our rivers, lakes and air are in a bad way. We need to deal with the reality, not the myth.’’

An Environment Ministry spokeswoman said February’s symposium was put on hold after councils indicated it would be best held ‘‘once high-level decisions had been made on the shape of the environmental reporting regime’’.

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