Luxton JoJO LUXTON (Labour): I rise with real pride to support this piece of legislation because one of the things that this piece of legislation does among several is acknowledges the importance of working in partnership with our agricultural sector. That is just one of the things that this piece of legislation does but more importantly it's about tackling New Zealand's long-term challenges and we know that climate change is one of our biggest challenges that we face in today's day and age. It reforms the New Zealand emissions trading scheme (ETS) to drive emissions reductions and help New Zealand meet its domestic and international climate change targets.I'd like to acknowledge the Hon James Shaw for bringing this piece of legislation to the House when it is such an important issue that we cannot ignore. As Minister Shaw said earlier the emissions trading scheme was not being used to its full potential and we know that the emissions trading scheme is actually a key tool to tackling climate change. We can no longer sit on our hands. We can no longer put our heads in the sand and say It's all too hard." and put it in the too-hard basket. We must act now.What we have here is a progressive Government that is working hard towards making real and meaningful change and is not afraid to make some of the hard decisions. But I am really pleased that we have seen the Government has listened to the concerns of the agricultural sector and has put into place a sector-led plan to reduce emissions at the farm gate which means that each farm will get the benefits individually for their reduction of emissions and I think that is extremely important. We do know that agricultural emissions are going to be brought into the ETS by 2025 but this does allow the sector time to develop the tools and systems that they need to account for on-farm emission in 2025 and I have every confidence in our agricultural sector that they will achieve this.We know that our farmers are innovative and practical people and I have no doubt in their abilities to achieve this goal. They are already doing so much work on farm to care for the environment because they understand that climate change affects them and actually affects our ability to keep our reputation as a country that provides exceptional quality and sustainable produce to the world. They know the importance of what this piece of legislation means.There's going to be a backstop measure to bring agriculture into the ETS earlier in 2022 if there isn't enough progress being made but I have every faith in our agricultural sector's ability and I am certain that we are not going to need to use this backstop. There will be no need for this at all because our farmers care about the environment they care about agriculture's global reputation and the majority out there are actually already doing the right thing.As my colleague Angie Warren-Clark said earlier sometimes I think the Opposition underestimates the knowledge that this side of the House holds around the agricultural sector and just assumes that none of us care about agriculture. They think we don't care about the farming sector we don't care about farmers we hate farming and all the rest of it. That is actually completely untrue. They would be very surprised to know how many of us on this side of the House come from rural agricultural backgrounds and we do care deeply about our farming sector our agricultural sector and acknowledge absolutely the work that they are undertaking in caring for not only their farms and their productivity but their environment.I visit farms regularly within the electorate that I live in and I am so thrilled to see how many of them are working so so hard on their environmental footprint. They are family farmers and they want to leave the land better than they found it. They are working so hard because often they pass their farms on generation to generation and they want to leave it in better condition than they inherited or bought it themselves for their children and their community. So I absolutely commend this piece of legislation to the House."