Simpson ScottHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): It's always an embarrassment when a new member of Parliament comes ill prepared to a debate like this and creates a speech of the sort that we've just heard. Because this is a bill that actually isn't to do with Kiribati. It isn't to do with the potential refugees from climate change activities. It's a relatively simple bill that the Government's introduced a little bit belatedly but at least they've introduced it. It's a bill that is a small step in the right direction and it's a bill that seeks to bring New Zealand into line with the international regime that has been agreed by almost every other country in the world. Some would say that we've actually been a little bit slow in this area. Part of the reason we've been a little bit slow is because we are a small isolated country at the bottom of the South Pacific where shipping and airline activity is fundamental to everything we do. The only way in and out of our island nation is by air or by sea. We are an exporting nation. We are a country that depends on trading in the world. And what happens is that for years and years and years the fuel that's used on ships that ply the waters in and out of New Zealand has been fuel that is not the most environmentally sound and has a higher than one would want degree of sulphur component. So this legislation is the result of work that has been done over a long number of years and it is as my colleague Christopher Luxon earlier on in this debate stated an actual Act that there's something going to be done. It's not just a slogan. It's not just political speak. This is an Act that will have an impact a physical impact that will actually be of benefit. That's unusual for this Labour socialist Government because they are usually a Government that spends a lot of time talking about slogans talking about left-wing doctrine talking about trade unions and talking about things that have no particular physical impact. But this piece of legislation is different. It does have an impact and it's probably not before time.I sat on the Environment Committee that between March and June of 2020 considered our obligations under the MARPOL Annex VI treaty of international obligations. We heard from a number of submitters not the least of which was the recently retired executive director of the New Zealand Shipping Federation Annabel Young. And I want to commend to the House—she's a former member of this Chamber and she is a person who has during her time with the New Zealand Shipping Federation acted diligently carefully and with great advocacy on behalf of the Shipping Federation and their members that ply the waters around coastal New Zealand. What she emphasised at select committee when we were considering it back in 2020 was that they believed the official advice underemphasised the likely impact of higher fuel prices and the difficulty of sourcing supply. So here we have the practical challenge that comes with a good environmental step but it comes at a cost. It comes at a price. That's the trade-off that we have to make often in environmental matters—that doing the right thing does have a cost. And so in this case the cost will be a higher impost on ships that are arriving and leaving New Zealand waters. The fuel that they use will be cleaner and more environmentally sound and that's a good thing. But there will be a cost and the cost ultimately flows on to consumers and individuals and is yet a further impact on the cost of living. But that's a trade-off that we as a Parliament and we as a society are happy to make because the environmental benefits are in this case I think worthy of the trade-off. So the National Party is going to support this legislation to select committee. We're looking forward to what will I think be a useful analysis by the select committee. I'm grateful that the Government has given I think a reasonable amount of time not a long amount of time but a reasonable amount of time for—Barbara Kuriger: Good for their standards.Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: Yeah good by their standards; not necessarily good by traditional democratic standards of New Zealand but good by their standards. They'd almost say that this was probably open and transparent. Well it doesn't quite reach that mark but it's a modest step in the right direction. So the select committee will give due consideration and I won't be at all surprised that the New Zealand Shipping Federation will make a submission along with a number of other international shipping organisations. And I'm sure that the environmental non-Governmental organisations will also want to make their contribution. So in terms of where we go on this piece of legislation we take our typically blue-green approach. We want to see that the elements of sustainability are at the core of this decision making. We are of course on this side of the Parliament the party of practical environmentalism—Christopher Luxon: Get stuff done.Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: —and we get stuff done as Christopher Luxon says. We get stuff done. So we'll be looking carefully at the legislation. We'll be looking at the wording what it means—what it means for shipping organisations and what it means in terms of our overall economic impact and of course what it means for individual New Zealand consumers. So on that note I'm happy to join with my colleagues in supporting this bill to select committee and we'll see how it goes.