MR Horan: National must put their money where their mouth is

“National must look beyond a fixation with measuring, and move into action on the environment including rivers lakes and streams,” said independent MP Brendan Horan.

He was commenting on the Environment Reporting Bill which has been introduced in Parliament today.

“The problem with measuring is one we have seen in education with National’s National Standards. Repeatedly finding out that the patient is sick and treatment is needed is no substitute for doing something.

“New Zealand needs action on the many threats to the natural environment. In particular we need a robust and strong National Water Standard so that accumulating problems in natural waterways can be properly addressed. The standard must cover discharges into rivers and streams.

“National must commit to action - which will need funding - to clean up New Zealand’s waterways.

“At present there are only intermittent and sporadic clean-up efforts and that is not good enough. I want to see the present national policy statement strengthened. Maori - indeed many New Zealanders who value the wairua - want to be able to work with local and regional Councils to fix the problems that have developed over many years,” said Brendan Horan.

“We need a good National Water Standard that will raise the health of waterways in an affordable way because water is vital to New Zealanders,” said Brendan Horan.

Brendan Horan has been developing, in conjunction with scientific experts and stakeholders, an action plan for the Kaituna River in the Bay of Plenty and tributaries which are heavily polluted. Examples of the pollution are in the attached images.

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