Katene Rahui: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill — First Reading Second Reading 
Katene Rahui: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill — First Reading Second Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:766] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 I am proud to come to this House to share the excellent news from Te Tai Tonga about the global success emerging from Blenheim. The Marlborough biofuel company Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation has created bio-diesel which has been saluted as the eleventh best invention in the world for 2008 by none other than  
Time 
 magazine. The bio-diesel formed from wild algae at Blenheim’s waste treatment oxidation ponds is branded as green crude. The international profile is not just great for business; it also demonstrates to the world that Aotearoa is serious about its commitment to reduce the rate of carbon emissions. 
Our entrepreneurial enterprise in advancing alternative sources of energy is well-known. One of my own iwi Ngati Koata is currently in the process of establishing a biofuel plant to supply users of static machinery such as school boilers. This particular initiative was going to focus on tallow but we were also investigating other sources to ensure we had a guaranteed supply. The ultimate example of home-grown New Zealand - made industry was the McDonald’s vege car—a car powered 100 percent by used vegetable oil. The McDonald family drove from Cape Reinga to Bluff gathering support from mayors who blessed the bonnet with their signatures. Today this Parliament is voting to overturn the decision made in the 48th Parliament to implement a biofuels sale obligation policy. What then do we tell local mayors who were prepared to sign up to the concept of biofuels and who welcomed any initiatives to promote sustainability security of energy supply and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions? How then does the bill on the Order Paper for today affect our international reputation with regard to our capacity to contribute to climate change initiatives? 
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright told the select committee last year that there are two key issues we must uphold when considering biofuel legislation. We need to be able to assess how well the biofuel initiative will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and we need to be able to ensure that we can increase the security of our supply of transport energy. These are critical issues for any discussion on sustainable biofuels. 
But other issues are at play. We need to be able to determine the energy return on energy invested. This is the concept of a life-cycle assessment of emissions determining the nature of the cultivation and processing of material inter-fuel. Although biofuels are carbon neutral when burnt we need to be clear about the carbon emissions released in the process of production. We need to be able to identify the ecological effects of biofuel production. Effects such as soil depletion or the reduction of indigenous biodiversity adversely affecting land with high conservation values have to be weighed up to ensure that sustainability remains of the highest order. 
Another priority is to determine the effects on the food supply. This was a key issue for the Local Government and Environment Committee when the debate around biofuels proceeded last year. The committee recommended that biofuels must not compete with food production or be produced using land of high value for food production. We must also be able to assess objectively what difference the legislation will make to small producers versus agri-business. The situation for those fledging industries that have gone full steam ahead into producing sustainable biofuels is particularly precarious. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of BioDiesel Oils New Zealand. This company has invested some $10 million in research and development in the construction of a processing plant in East Tamaki and in the process of building a 60-million litre facility in Waharoa. 
But it is not just money we are talking about; it is about meaningful work—real jobs. The strategic plan for BioDiesel Oils is to employ 22 staff on three shifts at the Waharoa plant and 24 staff on three shifts at East Tamaki. All in all that will be a total of 46 full-time jobs when both plants are in full production. And it is about time. Tom McNicholl the managing director of BioDiesel Oils has invested 9 years of his life into developing bio-diesel from the most difficult raw material available—tallow. This company took up the challenge of converting tallow as part of the commitment to increase renewable energy through the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy. 
The Minister of Energy and Resources earlier today raised some of the difficulties that we too have been concerned about—in particular the impacts that biofuel production contributes to deforestation or the way in which biofuel production competes with food production. But the point that we cannot ignore is the fact that so many of these concerns made it through to the select committee stage and were treated with due responsibility. Those issues included taking into account the social economic and environmental impacts of biofuel production alongside investment in standards of qualifying biofuels. It was because of the thorough and comprehensive way in which the biofuel debate was managed that the Maori Party determined that it would support the Biofuel Bill to introduce the biofuels sales obligation policy. We heeded the warning from Dr Wright about the need for caution before rushing into the biofuel industry and I want to distinguish here between the relative effects of biofuels derived from waste as opposed to biofuels made from ethanol from corn. The former emits up to 80 percent less carbon dioxide than fossil fuels while ethanol from corn emits about the same amount as diesel. 
The Maori Party has always spoken about the need for sustainable environmental management. It has promoted the concept of a genuine progress index. We must aspire to make the economy great but not at the expense of the environment. The commitment to renewable energy resources including geothermal hydro wave wind and solar resources is a commitment that we look to support through every avenue we can. We must pull out all the stops to protect and preserve limited resources such as oil gas and coal. We must create incentives to promote the use of biofuels and have a mandatory obligation as a key part of this. We know that many groups including iwi have invested in the manufacturing infrastructure of biofuels. We believe that this bill will disadvantage us and indeed detract from the promise of prosperity and innovation that the blossoming biofuel industry has demonstrated. We cannot support this bill.