Mackey Moana: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMackey Moana: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 25 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18871. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]12.MOANA MACKEY (Labour)to the Minister for Climate Change Issues: Does he agree with reported moves by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to build an alliance with like-minded countries to dismantle carbon pricing initiatives and undermine recent efforts by United States President Barack Obama to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and if not will he rule out his Government joining such an alliance at any point in the future?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Associate Minister for Climate Change Issues)on behalf of theMinister for Climate Change Issues: I am aware of conflicting media reports on the existence of such a proposal but the Government has seen nothing to suggest that such an alliance has been proposed.Moana Mackey: Will his Government lobby his Australian and Canadian counterparts and encourage them to address climate change with urgency given that the impacts of climate change are already being felt in our own backyard by our Pacific Island neighbours who have consistently called on developed countries including New Zealand to do a lot more domestically to reduce emissions?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: The member misses the point. There is a conflict in the media reports as to what is actually going on here. It is a little like what we saw from the Labour Party this morning where Tamati Coffey is still continuing to insist—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I was expecting somebody to acknowledge that the question was not even addressed in which case I would have invited the member to ask it again.Moana Mackey: If President Obama can make significant progress on climate change despite huge resistance from Congress why has his Government utterly failed to do the same here given that moves to ensure an effective price on carbon and to stop price gouging by energy companies thereby reducing costs to businesses and households would attract overwhelming support in this Parliament?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: The member is entirely wrong. New Zealand is respected internationally for its climate change efforts. Indeed last week New Zealand was praised by Barack Obama as a key ally on climate change. We can get our stories straight—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order!Moana Mackey: Does he agree with one of our Pacific Island neighbours the Marshall Islands Vice-President Tony de Brum who at last year’s Pacific Islands Forum said that New Zealand should be doing far more than we are currently doing and that our 5 percent reduction target is “a joke”; if not what action will he take to meet John Key’s pledge signed at that forum that New Zealand would do more domestically to address climate change?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: We do our fair share. We are the only country outside the European Union to have an emissions trading scheme. We are the only one that is comprehensive with our emissions trading scheme including all gases. We show real leadership internationally where we have got a comparative advantage and domestically of course we also do a lot. I think of the things that I am doing as the Minister of Energy and Resources with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority in our wider energy emissions profile. There is a lot that is going on. The member maybe should read some more of my press releases.