Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (Template:Langx) is an independent Officer of the New Zealand Parliament appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the House of Representatives for a five-year term under the Environment Act 1986.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment replaced the Commission for the Environment, a Government agency which was formed in 1972.

Role

The Commissioner is one of three officers of Parliament (the others being the Ombudsman and the Controller and Auditor-General) who are independent of the executive and who may review activities of the executive government and report directly to Parliament.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Commissioner's role is to review and provide advice on environmental issues and the system of agencies and processes established by the Government to manage the environment.<ref>Statistics New Zealand (1996). New Zealand Official Yearbook 1996. Statistics New Zealand, Wellington.</ref> The primary objective of the office is to contribute to maintaining and improving the quality of the environment in New Zealand through advice given to Parliament, local councils, business, tangata whenua, communities and other public agencies.

The Commissioner may:

• investigate any matter where the environment may be, or has been adversely affected;
• assess the capability, performance and effectiveness of the New Zealand system of environmental management; and
• provide advice and information that will assist people to maintain and improve the quality of the environment.

Commissioners

Commissioners for the environment

• Ian Baumgart (1974–1980)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Parliamentary commissioners for the environment

	Name	Portrait	Term of office
1	Helen Hughes	File:PCE 20 Forum Three Commissioners (cropped) - Helen Hughes.jpg	1987–1996
2	Morgan Williams	File:Morgan Williams QSO (cropped).jpg	1997–2007
3	Jan Wright	File:Jan Wright, 2007.jpg	2007–2017
4	Simon Upton	File:Simon Upton 01 crop.jpg	2017–present

External links

• Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment