Genter Julie Anne: International Finance Agreements Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGenter Julie Anne: International Finance Agreements Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 05 November 2015. Volume:709;Page:7757. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green): I rise to speak on the International Finance Agreements Amendment Bill in its second reading. To answer the question posed by my colleague Mark Mitchell earlier in this debate the Green Party is supporting this bill. The Green Party does support banks and infrastructure banks particularly if they are oriented towards solving our urgent need to invest in infrastructure that will respond to both climate change and inequality—the two biggest challenges our world is facing.In fact before the last election the Green Party had a policy of having a Green Investment Bank here in New Zealand. That was going to be a commercially run bank that would facilitate investment in clean technology and energy here in New Zealand because we feel there is a bit of a gap in the market here in New Zealand. The cost of setting up that bank would have actually been slightly less than the costs that we are donating to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank—about $120 million over a period of time—and it would have been run on commercial grounds. We still think that is a good policy and we would love it if the Government picked that policy up.When it comes to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank we can see why New Zealand would want to be involved in such an endeavour. It is about being a good neighbour in Asia. It is about ensuring that we are at the table and hopefully influencing decisions in a way that is going to result in the type of infrastructure being built being infrastructure that is going to benefit the region in the long term not just benefit it in the short term and not just benefit the people procuring the infrastructure or building the infrastructure.I think it is really important that we note at this point our concern. I think there is every indication that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is going to be run on principles that take into account the reality of climate change and that have a focus on environmental sustainability as well as poverty reduction because it is impossible to respond to one of those challenges without responding to the other. As my colleague Marama Davidson said in her maiden statement to the House yesterday it is impossible to address either climate change or inequality without addressing both.There was recently a report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate project the New Climate Economy. It is putting out a lot of really helpful reports. These are big global players including Deutsche Bank AG and they say in their report that it is urgent now that we get collaboration not only between Governments but between communities between businesses and between investors on addressing the risk of catastrophic climate change. They say that it is urgent that all players public sector and private sector are working together to ensure that we seize the opportunity presented by climate change to ensure that the infrastructure we invest in now is actively reducing our carbon pollution.Unfortunately for the past 50 or 60 years much of our investment in infrastructure has actually aggravated climate change by increasing pollution and increasing carbon emissions and it has not actually done as much as we would have liked to reduce inequality. Although we have seen global incomes rise in some developing countries that growth has not been equally shared by all people in those communities and we have seen a real concentration of capital in the hands of a few which is driving ongoing challenges—social challenges environmental challenges and actually economic challenges. Arguably the reason the global economy has failed to bounce back from the global financial crisis is that there is such growth in inequality and such concentration of capital in the hands of very very few people. So it is essential that when we assess the types of infrastructure projects that we are investing in in Asia through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or here in New Zealand we assess that infrastructure in terms of its ability to reduce pollution and to reduce inequality.Unfortunately at the moment the current Government has an infrastructure programme that is not really going to do anything to reduce pollution and arguably is not going to do anything to improve economic efficiency which is a real shame because there is that opportunity. The Green Party would like nothing more than to see the National Government seize this economic opportunity because there is not a trade-off. It is not the case that we have to sacrifice our pristine natural environment and the future stability of our climate in order to get richer and have economic growth. Actually there are many opportunities where the economy will function better by doing the things that actually restrict pollution and reduce pollution.A perfect example is in the transport infrastructure being invested in in this country right now. There is a real priority on a few big projects that will do nothing to reduce congestion even though that is their purported purpose. They will do nothing to reduce the cost of moving goods and people around the country and they will do nothing to reduce carbon pollution or inequality. So here we have the opportunity and I as a former transportation planner and urban planner am very passionate about the opportunities that exist to create infrastructure that is much smarter that costs less money and that enables people and households to live in great places to live close to where they work and to do so in a way that reduces both the personal cost to them and also the environmental impact. So we have got these win-wins.I can see in the language around the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that that idea which is really gathering a whole lot of steam globally is included in the principles upon which the bank was set up and that is why the Green Party is happy to support this bill. But we would like to see more of that type of thinking here in New Zealand and we have the opportunity to do so. Particularly coming up to the climate talks at the end of this year there is a real momentum gathering not just amongst Governments—of course not with our Government but other Governments—but also in the business community. I note today that Business New Zealand has announced that it is going carbon neutral because it sees the risks and opportunities presented by the new climate economy. I put the question to our Government the National Government: when is it going to take the challenges and opportunities of climate change and inequality seriously and start applying that logic to policies here in this country? We all stand to benefit from smarter policy that results in a cleaner environment and a fairer society.