‘More protection for environment needed’

Press, 24 May 1988, Page 17

‘More protection for environment needed’

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

New Zealand’s relatively unspoiled environment needs more legislative protection, according to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Palmer. He told an international conference on marine disposal of waste water in Wellington yesterday that the Government planned to revamp the water and soil legislation. Reforming legislation would not just make piecemeal changes, and nor would it be dusting off old legislation. Water and soil legislation had evolved over the years in an ad hoc fashion that had resulted in conflicting, confusing and overlapping laws, Mr Palmer said.

The system was costly, cumbersome, consumed time and energy, and people found it hard to

understand and take part

The legislation did not provide for all relevant values to be considered and did not recognise the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. He said there would be three key goals for the reform: —

® To distribute rights to resources in a just manner, taking into account the rights of existing right-holders, the obligations of the Crown and the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. © To ensure that the resources provided the greatest benefit to society. © To examine the legal process to ensure there were fair and consistent procedures for resolving conflicts of interest. Mr Palmer said the process of reform would involve the chance to debate property rights, the tenure of rights to pollute,

and the right to take water and discharge waste water. Protection of the environment was necessary for its continued health and diversity.

Because of economic reasons, New Zealand had generally continued to take the cheapest options but in doing so, as it now realised, other significant values had been compromised, he said. In the past it had been regarded as virtually the pioneer’s right to pollute and the public was now picking up the tab for that.

“But who pays for the loss of our cultural and environmental values?” Mr Palmer asked. “Government policy is that the polluter should pay.”

Pollution had been allowed to occur to the point where in some areas it was unsafe to swim or collect shellfish.