Chadwick Steve: Resource Management (Climate Protection) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Chadwick Steve: Resource Management (Climate Protection) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:630;Page:2318] 
STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
: 
 It is entirely appropriate that we are debating Jeanette Fitzsimons’ Resource Management (Climate Protection) Amendment Bill during the week of the climate change conference. We certainly need more debate on the issues of climate change. The Local Government and Environment Committee had a briefing last week. It illustrated absolutely empirically that change is real and evident now. We all understood at the select committee that climate change is real and upon us. We looked at the emissions that are evident in our country now and having a very real impact by causing floods and other changes. Of our total emissions our agricultural emissions make up over 49 percent transport 18 percent and industry 5.3 percent. We cannot ignore those gross emitters—we must do something about them. 
We sit in quite an interesting state of being 55th in the world for total greenhouse gas emissions. It is not such a good place to be but it is nothing like the big three: the United States China and Europe. We have to play our part and I think New Zealand does so. I take exception to the comments of the member opposite who said we have made a giant mistake. In fact some international experts have acknowledged the work of Minister Pete Hodgson on the international stage so when we are negotiating international instruments we can hold our heads really high. There will be a review of the Kyoto Protocol in May of this year in Bonn. 
Climate change is a very serious challenge. To have a domestic focus is not easy and I agree that it has to be nationally consistent. We learnt there is no one single solution. We need a really broad and balanced approach to how we manage climate change and whatever mechanism we come up with and we will hear more about that after May of this year has to be effective economically and technologically feasible—and that involves science providing new solutions—fair and equitable and cost-efficient. So we need to make progress on significant greenhouse gas reductions and we are aiming to be on a downward path by 2012. 
I congratulate Jeanette Fitzsimons on the bill. We need to be doing everything possible to look at how we achieve that downward trend by 2012. We also need to look at some different approaches—it is a dynamic process. The Minister announced that there will be a review. Several work programmes are under review at the moment and those papers will be in Cabinet by June of this year. The review will involve all sectors: energy forestry transport the carbon market—and which mechanisms we use for trading on the carbon market—and agriculture. We cannot sit here and do nothing and I applaud the fact that Ms Fitzsimons has brought a bill to the House. It may not be perfect but I really do support it going to the select committee. 
We have to look at our revised position on climate change and it is yet to be announced. But the question that arises from the bill concerns whether we do so through a national approach as a member opposite Dr Paul Hutchison said—which we are attempting to do with the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality and the National Energy Strategy—or whether we allow regional councils to do so through Resource Management Act mechanisms. I think that is what we will learn when we hear submissions on the bill. I look forward to that and I hope the bill comes to the Local Government and Environment Committee.