Dean JacquiHon JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm very pleased to speak on this emissions trading bill and to really follow on from the Hon Scott Simpson who gave a comprehensive account of National's position on this bill and our position to oppose the bill at this stage. I want to take the liberty as a rurally based MP as are a number of other National MPs around the House to really reflect on the implications of bringing the emissions trading scheme (ETS) and bringing agriculture into the ETS at this point and to reconfirm the point that Scott Simpson made: that it is our position that in this post-COVID economic environment it not only makes sense to delay consideration of this bill but it's almost imperative to delay consideration of this bill for 12 months until there is a greater understanding there is greater certainty in the context of great uncertainty of what the future—immediate and medium- and indeed long-term future—we do have economically and particularly for our primary production sectors which at the moment are the sectors that are making the greatest contribution to the New Zealand economy and it would seem will be doing so for some time to come.Tourism is on its knees. I'm not going to stray from the bill very widely except to confirm that tourism is on its knees—international tourism—and will be so for a couple of years three years until those markets regain some traction in New Zealand and there is more confidence in those areas which is why we can confirm our position—our considered position—of delaying consideration of this bill until more is known about the future of the economy.I'd also like to confirm the position that we hold: that National had and has a clear criteria that would need to be met before we are comfortable with bringing agriculture into the ETS or indeed a similar pricing mechanism. That is—and it's a message which we have confirmed over a number of years—that there needs to be science-based mitigation of the impacts of agriculture on greenhouse gas emissions. We understand that this bill introduces an emissions trading scheme. We understand that. There are parts of this bill with which we do not disagree as Scott Simpson mentioned. However there is a very strong—very strong—push in the New Zealand scientific and agricultural sector to develop science-based mitigation measures.It is almost unfathomable as to why those options are not being more seriously considered. Is it just blind idealism? Well it could be because there's a lot of work being undertaken to support farmers to support farmers farming their way to better environmental outcomes. Just as they are doing as they're farming their way to better water quality and land-use outcomes so they are doing to try to attempt and to further work to reduce their emissions profile.I want to also raise the issue of the post-COVID environment impact on our economy in the context of agriculture still and to note the comments of the Meat Industry Association of New Zealand. Of course that is the association which represents New Zealand's largest manufacturing sector and who say that the proposals will have a significant impact on the economies of rural communities across New Zealand. We've just seen over the past couple of months since 25 March the impact on rural communities and in the context of agriculture we've seen it with meat-processing plants under levels 4 and 3 implementing social distancing practices within their meat works. That has had the impact of reducing production by up to 50 percent. That has had the impact of creating a bottleneck for processing with farmers who wish to quit their lambs who wish to quit their cull cows wish to quit their—pigs have been a particular bottleneck. Of course you look behind that again and there are on-farm impacts. Will there be enough feed to carry this extra stock over? Will the condition of the stock still be that which they will get a good price when they eventually get through the meat-processing plants? The reason I'm giving this example: as the Meat Industry Association says under the ETS regime Even a relatively small [reduction] in the amount of livestock being sent to processing sites of between 10-15 percent"—and that is due to depopulation of stock—"will likely lead to a number of plant closures"—well that's just around the corner—"and significant job losses particularly for small towns who are often solely reliant on the local processing plant for jobs". That is Tim Ritchie the chief executive of the Meat Industry Association.So we began to see the impact on small communities because of COVID-19 and now the proposal from this Government which has New Zealand First as a coalition partner who are so-called champions of the provinces in support of this piece of legislation which has exactly the same impact on small rural communities. I know this—I know this. I live in one of those communities—Hon Tracey Martin: So do I.Hon JACQUI DEAN: —which is—well Tracey Martin says "So do I." Well she should know better then shouldn't she? Because that is the impact of this emissions trading bill. If farmers if the agriculture sector are forced to depopulate to make their operations affordable under the ETS that will be the impact on small communities because it is not just the farms and the farmers themselves; it's everybody else in those communities. It is absolutely the lack of confidence in those communities and we all know what that means. Those of us who live in small communities have seen it during droughts: the supermarket doesn't trade as much people leave the district retail suffers and people leave town in search of better opportunities.Does the Minister honestly think—and I'll be interested when we get to the committee of the whole House stage of this bill because I will be interested to know what work has been done what economic work has been done on the impact of bringing the ETS on small towns in rural New Zealand. Or is the ideology going to prevail in this? Because under the ideology there is a reality and that reality is that by depopulating stock this Government is also proposing to depopulate rural New Zealand. For that reason in this post - COVID-19 economic period where nothing is known nothing is certain it is our belief that we should pause and pick up this work again in 12 months' time."