Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Speaker. #ThankYou for the opportunity to take a call on the #SustainableBiofuelObligationBill which #NationalWillRepeal if we win the next election—because this is a #BadBill. It's a bill which will not fix the issues this Government says it will. This is simply the virtue-signalling bill. I was listening to the Minister talking earlier in her speech about how the Government announced their aspiration" to put in place a sustainable biofuel mandate. But then she listened to people in the sector and realised that it would not be able to be put in place by #2023 because of the costs of the infrastructure involved. That says: this Government #Doesn'tKnowWhatThey'reDoing. #Aspiration but #Don'tKnowWhatThey'reDoing because actually what happened here is they went out there and it's like everything this Government does when it comes to climate change policy; they want to tell the world that they're going to fix the issues but actually they don't have a plan. They don't have a plan on actually how to do it. They still don't even understand the full cost that this is going to have on the companies which will be forced to mix biofuels with the fuels the cost of the infrastructure the advice which has been given here to the House doesn't understand the cost of the infrastructure it doesn't fully understand the cost it's going to have to the consumer. And guess what? It is not going to have an impact on overall emissions at all because we have a market; the emissions trading scheme has a market for emissions in New Zealand and so if you reduce emissions in one part of that market it simply makes those emissions available to be burned somewhere else. And this Government's very good at burning coal. They're exceptional at burning coal. They went out there and told the world "We're going to be world leading we're going to ban oil and gas exploration." Well guess what? We are importing record amounts of coal into this country which is twice as carbon intensive as oil and gas and it's causing more pollution globally and that is the legacy of this Government: renewables are going backwards and the emissions are actually going up because of the short-sighted decisions by this incompetent Government which actually doesn't know what it is going to do. So the National Party does oppose this piece of legislation because of the costs the lack of the Government's understanding of the cost it's going to have on the industry the fact that it will not actually reduce overall emissions and also because of the cost that it is going to put on to New Zealanders at the pump during a cost of living crisis for actually no benefit whatsoever. We know this is going to put at least an increase of 10c a litre on the price of a litre of fuel. I think that's the actual real reason why this Government delayed it. They would have known there had been some costs for infrastructure for the fuel companies. They would have known that this would have been incredibly expensive and difficult for them to put in place in that time frame. But you know they wanted to push their aspiration anyway. But the real reason is because this thing came along which they helped create called the cost of living crisis—the cost of living crisis which has meant that New Zealanders are paying more at the pump New Zealanders are paying more for their food and their groceries interest rates are now going up meaning that people have less money in their back pockets and then they thought "Wouldn't it be a bit ridiculous if we go out there and increase the fuel excise in election year and then put another 10c a litre on with a biofuel mandate a few months later?"I think that's the real reason why they've decided to kick the can down the road—because of the politics and the cost of living crisis. That just shows the cynicism this crowd have: they say one thing about aspiration and wanting to change the world but when the rubber hits the road these guys are just absolutely cynical politicians who will do anything to try and win a vote. That's actually what is behind this delay. They don't actually believe in this stuff. They just want to get good headlines in the Guardian and the New York Times and all these other international newspapers. But when it comes to the reality back at home they actually will be very prepared to do what this bill does which is kick the can—the biofuel mandate—down the road by another 12 months. So National opposes this (1) because of increased costs (2) because it will not reduce overall emissions and we will repeal it when we come to office if we're elected next year."