✨ Government Policy Initiatives
4682 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE No. 198
operation with local government will be sought in order to get greater standardisation and more efficiency in the processing of resource consents.
Waste management is an environmental matter which needs stronger action. It will be a requirement that by the year 2010 all waste management shall be on a full cost recovery basis and all existing landfills are upgraded or closed. It is my government’s objective to reduce significantly the waste stream.
New Zealand also needs to improve its record in greenhouse gas control and its knowledge of the impact of climate change. Measures that will be taken will include an inquiry into the impact of climate change and ozone depletion, increased public education programmes, greater investment in public transport, and stronger measures on energy efficiency.
New Zealand is the most recently settled country of its size in the world. Most experts agree that human habitation dates back only a thousand years or so. Yet we have greatly modified our natural environment, especially over the last 150 years.
Much of our natural heritage has gone. We must protect what remains. Steps to stop the remaining native timber logging on crown land of significant conservation value have already been taken.
High priority will be given to funding for rescue programmes and habitat protection for the kiwi and other threatened species. More marine reserves will be created with the aim of covering ten per cent of the coastline by 2010. The proposed Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park will be created and the Bill before the House will be amended.
New Zealand’s natural heritage is part of our national identity. The image that foreigners have of us is often one of soaring mountains, deep fiords, thermal activity, braided rivers and all that we are so familiar with.
But a nation is not just a physical environment. It is also a culture, the identity that makes each of us a New Zealander wherever we are. Much of that identity has been bound up with our sporting prowess.
Clearly in that respect we are not always achieving the standards we have set ourselves. More resources will be devoted across a broad range of sports to lifting our performance.
My government has a special interest in the promotion of arts and culture. That has been signalled by the Prime Minister also being the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage.
A small country which exists in an increasingly globalised environment has to work hard to maintain and develop its own cultural identity.
My government will strongly support our professional, performing artists. It will nurture much stronger music, publishing, and film industries through assistance with financing investment, export development, and promotion.
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VUW Te Waharoa —
NZ Gazette 1999, No 198
NZLII —
NZ Gazette 1999, No 198
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Government Policy Initiatives
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🏛️ Governance & Central AdministrationTertiary education, Student financing, Research funding, Science and technology, Genetic modification, Environmental issues, Resource Management Act