Bennett David: Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:7928. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): The National Party opposes this bill. The main reason is that—Chris Hipkins: Oh what a surprise! The party of no.DAVID BENNETT: You got a problem over there mate? Oh no the party of no. I will indulge in the Opposition for a little while. I think the first thing to indulge in is the Green Party. The Green Party has never been right when it comes to fossil fuels. I remember Green members used to stand in this House and talk about peak oil. Peak oil was the big thing the Green Party had. They said that oil would run out. That was the big thing for the Green Party 10 years ago. Look through any speech on that side of the House and they mention peak oil day after day.What has happened to the oil market? Tell us about peak oil now. Tell us about the Green Party and your amazing vision of how the oil market would work out. Tell us about the Green Party and your understanding of economics. Tell us about the Green Party and what actually happened in the oil market because oil has never been cheaper. Oil will never be cheaper. It will probably get cheaper in the future but it is at a very cheap point at this time because there is a plentiful supply of oil. There is no such thing as peak oil. The Greens were wrong. The Greens misled the New Zealand public and the world for many years talking about peak oil. When we look at the Greens they have never been right when it comes to cars transport and oil.I remember that we had the Road User Charges Amendment Bill in this House just a few years ago. I spoke on that bill and I said that this was a good bill for New Zealand and it was important that we support electric cars going forward. The Green members abused that speech. They said that electric cars had no future in New Zealand because they did not see them then becoming relevant in this country in the near future. The Green Party was wrong once again when it comes to transport fossil fuels and those kinds of issues. And we will wind you up—yes the speakers from the Green Party—because you have never been right in this area.How could we trust it then to pick the economic things that we should invest in for our superannuation funds? Why would we give the Green Party the ability to determine what New Zealand should invest in for the superannuation of our future citizens and for the ACC payments of our future citizens? Can we trust those people to make the right economic decisions on investments in those areas? They surely have not got it right with regard to oil in the past. They surely have not got it right with regard to electric cars in the past and they will never get it right because they are based on fundamentalist socialist economic policy that will never work and that socialism will never work because—Hon Member: Oh here we go.DAVID BENNETT: Here we come; yes that is true. I say to that party there: if you are right then come to this House but do not come to this House if you are completely wrong as you have been in the past in this area. It is important that we invest in the roads of New Zealand. It is important that we have electric cars. It is important that we have an economy going forward because there is no such thing as peak oil. There is no such thing as an oil market that is going to disintegrate.James Shaw: There’s no such thing as climate change.DAVID BENNETT: We are getting “climate change” from that member. That member is a new member of this House. I remember that when he became a co-leader of the Greens the first six or seven questions he asked in this House were all about the climate. Then the polls went down for the Green Party. When it lost 2 percent in the polls he went back to the economic policies of Russel Norman and attacked the rest of the country in other ways. We have not seen climate change questions from that member in this House recently have we? No he has given up on climate change. He has gone away from it because he knows he is losing in the polls. He is going away from the traditional things the Green Party should stand for. So it is pretty rich for the Green Party members to come to this House and talk about climate change tonight when they will not even ask questions in question time about climate change because they have given up on it. They know they cannot do what they want to do in the public eye.Carmel Sepuloni: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member has been speaking for at least 5 minutes I think and he has not even touched on the content of the bill.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you for your point of order. I think you will find that there was a graceful brush with the bill early on but I take the member’s point and suggest to the member who has the call that he could get a little bit closer to the bill in his delivery and contribution.DAVID BENNETT: The bill basically says that the Green Party would make a direction to the ACC fund the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and the Government Superannuation Fund on where to invest. The Green Party has been shown to be incorrect in any of its potential determinations with regard to this area in the past and that is the point I am making. We cannot trust it to make investment decisions because it has always been wrong. It will always be wrong because it is guided by ideology rather than looking at what investments are in the best interests of New Zealanders going forward. That is something that we must be aware of and that is at the heart of why National will oppose this bill.Funds like the Superannuation Fund are independent bodies and the last thing we need is 10 members of the Green Party who have never done a day’s work in their lives making decisions about what New Zealanders should have their money invested in. That is the problem when you—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member is getting a bit repetitious. I suggest he find some new material or sit down.DAVID BENNETT: I would like to mention also that all the public funds that New Zealand has are in a responsible investing programme which is closely aligned with the United Nations principles for responsible investment which you would think the Green Partywould support—being a big supporter of the UN of course. There has been a long history of involvement in investment and things that are in the nature of climate change and risk in that area and so there is a responsibility now upon those investment vehicles to take into account these issues. There has been a long history of involvement with many of the organisations that are involved in that area. The independence of those funds cannot be compromised by a bill like this in this House.The Green Party has been wrong and always will be wrong in this area. We do not need to give the Green Party the power to make the wrong decisions when it comes to New Zealanders’ money. That is hard-earned money that New Zealanders need for their retirement and we cannot trust the Greens. We should never trust them and it is in the best interests of New Zealand that this bill does not pass. Thank you.