Roy Heather: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill — First Reading Second Reading 
Roy Heather: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill — First Reading Second Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:786] 
Hon HEATHER ROY (Deputy Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the second reading of the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill. ACT of course is supporting this bill and nobody should be surprised that we are debating it today because well before the election the National Party made it very clear that it did not consider it appropriate to incentivise the uptake of biofuels through a mandatory obligation and ACT stood in this House and supported that very stance when that legislation was rushed through under urgency shortly before the election. It made no sense then and it certainly makes no sense now. 
Moana Mackey 
: It had gone to select committee. 
Hon HEATHER ROY 
: The select committee discussion was held that is quite right so why do it again this quickly? It is interesting that Labour members are suddenly very worried about sending everything to a select committee. They certainly were not during their 9 years in Government. 
Anyway here we are and there are very good reasons to repeal this legislation. Many of them have already been discussed and I just want to briefly mention those again. Firstly there are very legitimate concerns around the claimed environmental benefits of biofuels. The booming biofuels industry is driving the deforestation of millions of hectares in rain forests in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: It’s nonsense. 
Hon HEATHER ROY 
: Mr Hodgson is chipping in over there but the evidence is pretty clear. Many other countries are now exhibiting very serious lessons that we should be paying some attention to. In the United States the leading source of biofuels is corn or maize. Nobel Prize - winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen a man not known for his climate change scepticism found in 2007 that biofuels made from corn and rapeseed—something that Jeanette Fitzsimons stood in this House and propounded the benefits of—contributed more to global warming than fossil fuels. If we are prepared to stand up in this House and ignore the evidence from other countries then we are not very clever are we. Biofuels made from corn and rapeseed contribute more to global warming than fossil fuels and there certainly is a lesson here that should be learnt. 
Back to Brazil; it is the second largest producer of biofuels in the world but we will not hear that from the other side—the second largest producer. How has it achieved this honour? It has been through having a large-scale slash and burn of the country’s native rainforest. Given the stance that the Greens have made about rainforests for I do not know how long—about the last decade—I do not think that we should be ignoring that. As if the rainforest was not diminishing at a rapid enough rate as it is Brazil has now embarked on an unprecedented campaign of cutting down rainforest to plant sugar cane for biofuel production. That is something that I did think the Greens and possibly some of the more conservative members of the Labour Party might have thought was important enough to consider during this debate. 
The loss of Brazil’s rainforest though is potentially not the worst impact of biofuels. The worst impacts may well be seen in Africa. In May 2008 Olivier de Schutter the United States food adviser stated: “The ambitious goals for biofuel production set by the United States and the European Union are irresponsible. I am calling for a freeze on all investment in this sector.” So why did he call for that? The reasons are twofold. Firstly food that was once used for its intended purpose is now being turned into biofuels. The very poor in the world are now starving because they can no longer afford what was very cheap food that made them sustainable. It actually kept them alive. Again the Greens and Labour once upon a time believed in helping out the poor of the world. 
Secondly land once used for intensive food production is now being converted to biofuel production. The cause is the latest fascination of the West and the victims are those in poverty in Asia and in Africa. Sadly those who are in poverty in New Zealand will now have more costs imposed upon them. Pushing food prices up will hurt most those who are least able to afford it. Legislation that diverts food supply into fuel for those least able to afford it is very dopey legislation and we in this House tonight are doing absolutely the right thing in repealing this legislation. The ACT Party fully supports this initiative by the National Party. It is the right and proper thing to do and we support it with pride. Thank you.