On Thursday, 17 August the Environment Committee will hear from the chief executives of the Department for Internal Affairs; Department of Conservation; Land Information New Zealand; the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment; the Ministry for the Environment; and the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The Committee is reviewing environmental outcomes – in this case for fresh water – across multiple departments and spending programmes in contrast to the orthodox approach of scrutinising individual departments. The Committee is being assisted by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE), and the Controller and Auditor-General.

The hearing draws on the October 2022 report of the Parliamentary Commissioner, “Environmental reporting, research and investment: Do we know if we are making a difference?”. As the PCE has said, “We need to know how we are affecting the environment, and whether the actions we are taking to improve it are working?”

Scrutinising how Government expenditure supports the achievement of outcomes is at the core of a select committee’s role, particularly during the Estimates process. This briefing is an extension of the Committee’s Estimates scrutiny following the Budget 2023.

The committee will meet at 8.00am in Select Committee Meeting Room 1 (in Bowen House, Parliament Buildings), or you can watch the hearing online via the committee’s Facebook page here.

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