Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. March 15th this year was the best and the worst side of modern New Zealand. We all know about the terrible atrocity—that hateful crime that we saw—but also that morning we saw the best of New Zealand. I was in Aotea Square in Auckland where in 20 years working as an environmentalist I've never felt so optimistic so hopeful so energised so proud of our young New Zealanders who were part of the climate strike who stood up and showed leadership in action. I've never been so optimistic in all my time as an environmentalist.Yet I was also reminded of the Greta Thunberg quote who kicked off the climate strike movement globally. She told us I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to act as if the house is on fire." The house—our home our planet—is on fire. It's burning. It's warming. It's drying. It's acidifying. It's flooding. It's drowning. Frankly it's dying as a place for these kids and their future. Yet today it was announced by OMV the Austrian oil and gas giant that they want to embark on one of the most ambitious largest oil-drilling programmes in New Zealand's entire history. Over 11 years they want to drill up to 10 wells costing $300 million.In an age of climate crisis looking for more oil we can't afford to burn is like your neighbour's house being on fire and you don't give them a hose; you pour petrol on it. In fact that's exactly what it's like. Looking for more oil in an age of climate crisis is like pouring petrol on to the fire because it's fossil fuels like oil and gas that are responsible for climate change. People every day are told to switch off the lights to turn the thermostat down a degree to eat one less meal of meat yet it is just a hundred companies like OMV that are responsible for 71 percent of the world's climate change pollution.New Zealand's future isn't more drilling. It's not more rigs off our coast threatening our beaches; it's more clean energy. Yet National wants more of it. This was the party that was quite happy to give tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and tax breaks that gave away free Crown data that funded conferences for the oil industry that hosted lavish junkets for oil executives that passed under urgency the Anadarko amendment that took away people's human rights that spied on people trying to keep fossil fuels in the ground that literally called the navy out on hapū protesters.Now fossil fuel extraction and the question of it is the litmus test of your climate change integrity. Thousands of well-meaning actions by individuals are rendered meaningless if companies like OMV can drill more fossil fuels and release that pollution. The Greens know this and that's why we stand against deep-sea oil drilling more fracking in New Zealand ending fossil fuel subsidies and why we're for clean energy. We want to see solar panels insulation and more clean energy.In my last minute I want to speak to those climate change strikers. I was so proud as a dad that my two kids were out there joining them and as a grandfather I want to be able to look those grandkids in the eye and say that I did something about the greatest crisis of our generation. I want to tell those climate strikers—the tens of thousands of them—that the Green Party is listening to you. I want to tell you that in Government the Green Party is acting. We're going to pass the zero carbon Act. We've got a 100 percent renewables target and we're acting and we've stopped offshore oil exploration permits. We stand with you when it comes to the defining question of keeping fossil fuels underground.A quote that stayed in my mind at the time of the strikes was from Judith Collins. Do you know what she told the climate change strikers? Their little march won't achieve anything. But do you know what? People like her said exactly the same thing when women said "We would like the right to vote." People like her said the same thing when people said "We want to be able to marry the person we love even if they're the same gender." It's people like her who said the same thing when New Zealand dared to stand up to nuclear madness. They're wrong. Those people are dinosaurs and if they're not going to be part of the solution then just get out of the way. The only thing we know for sure is that when we do nothing—when we allow more pollution like this when we allow more fossil fuels and a climate crisis—nothing will change. But when we say yes to saving our home to saving our planet we can change the world."