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Thank you for the opportunity to again address the EDS annual conference, particularly in this pivotal election year.

EDS continues to play an important independent leadership role in New Zealand’s environmental challenges, whether it be the issues of biodiversity, water quality, climate change, marine issues or the RMA. The very announcements I am making today on water quality can be traced back to the initiatives of EDS in 2008 to launch the Land and Water Forum as a stakeholder lead process to advance improved freshwater management.

I move that the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

This Bill is a critical part of the Government's programme to increase the supply and affordability of housing, to grow the economy with more jobs and higher incomes, and to also improve our environmental management.

A big worry in this Trump era of modern politics is that complex issues are dumbed down to 140 character tweets. The beauty of this annual opportunity you give me as Nelson’s MP is to give a far more considered and thorough account of a topical issue. The focus of this 22nd Rotary address is the steps we are taking to improve New Zealand’s management of earthquake risks.

Thank you for the privilege of giving this 2016 Lincoln Environment lecture. I’d like to acknowledge Lincoln University Chancellor Tony Hall distinguished guests, fellow MPs, and the Centre for Nature Conservation staff who are hosting us tonight.

Remarks by New Zealand Minister for the Environment at Our Ocean Conference, Valparaiso, Chile

Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz, I am delighted to be here for the second Our Oceans conference. 

Thank you for your kind invitation. 

My country, New Zealand, and yours, Chile, may seem far apart, but we consider ourselves close neighbours – not separated but joined by ocean. 

We share a common concern about the challenges facing our oceans, and

Can I thank Nikki Kaye and her team for getting us out of our comfort zone and over here to Great Barrier Island, New Zealand’s fourth largest land mass. I appreciate it is a big expense for Bluegreens members but if we are to heed the lessons of Northland, we need to stay connected with New Zealand’s rural and remote communities.

The lectern and backdrop for this, my 20th annual speech to Nelson Rotary is the 80,000 pages of council resource management plans and rules. If in a single pile it would stand ten metres tall and probably require a resource consent for breaching local height restrictions. This mountain of red tape well illustrates the need for an overhaul of the Resource Management Act.