Hobbs Speech - Environment Institute of Aust/NZ
· Marian Hobbs Speech - Official launch of Environment
Institute of Australia and New Zealand, Te Papa, 11.45am Fri
May 9
·
· Noon: Karakia,
Welcome
·
· Dignitaries:
·
· Australian High
Commissioner Mr Robert Cotton Principal New Zealand
Environment Court Judge J.R. Bollard Assistant Parliamentary
Commissioner for the Environment, Helen Beaumont EIANZ
President Mr Simon Molesworth Wellington Waterfront Limited
Chair, Hon. Fran Wilde
·
· Thank you for inviting me
here today. I am very pleased to help launch the New Zealand
Chapter of the Environment Institute.
·
· I know
Barry Carbon, the Environment Ministry's CEO, addressed the
inaugural meeting of the New Zealand chapter in Christchurch
in February at which the local committee was
formed.
·
· We've just marked the 20th anniversary of
Closer Economic Relations with Australia. With the
establishment of this Institute I guess we can say CER also
stands for Closer Environmental
Relations.
·
· There's lots of co-operation and
rivalry between our nations and we derive considerable
benefit through the exchange of personnel. Barry Carbon, as
you must be aware, is an Aussie and we're very pleased to
have him here.
·
· I'd like to use this occasion to
acknowledge and congratulate Barry for the honour the
Australian Government recently bestowed upon him. He was
awarded a Centenary Medal for services to the environment.
The commemorative medal was created to honour living people
who have contributed to society or government in Australia's
first century of federation.
·
· The Environment
Institute of Australia and New Zealand is an important new
body for us. It's the first umbrella professional
association for our environmental practitioners.
·
· The Institute's principal objectives are to
promote environmental knowledge and advance ethical and
competent practice whilst facilitating interaction amongst
environmental professionals.
·
· This is an important
step forward for the environmental profession in New
Zealand. Environmental management is an increasingly
recognised and important part of our landscape. It’s vital
that we have people with the professionalism and skills to
solve the problems we face – and to take the opportunities
that are out there. I’m also pleased to see cooperation with
environmental practitioners in Australia being a key part of
this Institute. The knowledge and experience we can draw on
and share will be a benefit to all of us.
·
· You
will know that the Ministry for the Environment is
undergoing substantial change at the moment. In the past ten
years the Ministry’s focus has been on achieving sustainable
management through the development of better policy
statements and plans and efficient management.
·
· The Ministry for the Environment is seeking to
broaden that mandate by developing partnerships with
industry and the community to achieve sustainable
development. The Ministry also seeks to improve integration
of environmental management between government departments
and across local government and industry and to ensure that
social, cultural and economic concerns are given equal
weight in managing environmental matters.
·
· I think
this change reflects the way environmental management is
changing. It is becoming more organised, more focused, more
‘customer’ focused, and more effective. It is also more
active – it does not just suggest a range of solutions. It
now goes out and once it has the players together, they
create and carry out the solution.
·
· The Ministry
is leading whole-of-government programmes on climate change
and oceans, is committed to improving environmental decision
making, is working with local government, business and the
community, and is determined to provide national leadership
through environmental standards.
·
· An excellent
example of the Ministry’s leadership is its work on waste.
The Reduce Your Rubbish Campaign, together with our policy
work and the implementation of the NZ Waste Strategy, shows
us the importance of an all-encompassing approach to an
environmental issue – and the importance of working with
environmental professionals. Work at community level –
schools, campaigns Work with local government and their
landfills Work with specific industries and their
specialised wastes – oil/rubber
·
· The Ministry is
committed to working collectively and to thinking in new
ways – as is your Institute. The Government is also
committed to this – and we are committed to growth and
innovation through sustainable development– development that
meets present needs without compromising the needs of future
New Zealanders.
·
· The government is taking
leadership and prioritising action – action to remove
barriers to growth, action to improve liveability, and
action to improve the international competitiveness of our
cities. We need to keep lifting our economic growth rate so
we can fund good public services. But economic growth must
be environmentally sustainable and socially beneficial.
The Programme of Action for Sustainable Development
recognises that we all have a role to play and that there
are many areas where the best results will depend on
collaborative action.
·
· Government processes are
changing across all government departments to ensure that
how we develop is understood in the delivery of all
government work programmes be it immigration, car imports,
housing corporation designs, primary health care, hazardous
substances regulations. – "No man is an island"/ all our
actions have effects – this is being hammered home in the
'breaking out of silo campaign'.
·
· Obviously,
government can’t do this by itself. We need you as well. I
want to make it easier for government to hear the issues and
for you to be part of the solutions. I want to hear from the
Institute about the issues you, as a profession, think are
important, and the areas we can make changes in.
·
· Just one area of work I know we can work
together on is the development of a package of National
Environmental Standards – designed to protect human health
and the environment. They can be used to place limits on
discharges to air, water and land. National environmental
standards will establish environmental bottom lines around
air, water, and noise for urban places.
·
· It is
this collaboration between government and professionals that
gives us the opportunity to make real changes and to make a
real difference to the environment. Having skilled people
who can think outside their immediate areas and who can work
across the community is vital. The Environment Institute
will play a real role in leading this, in taking the issues
into the public arena in an informed, non-lobbying manner.
This Institute is important because it allows you to stop
working and thinking in professional or departmental
boxes.
·
· Thank you again for inviting me to this
launch and for giving me the opportunity to meet with you.
Together, we have much to do, and I congratulate you on this
initiative.
·
Exchange of native trees with
Australian High Commissioner. The Trees will eventually
become part of the Wellington Waterfront project. (Later in
the programme, there will be a talk about this project.)