Parata Hekia: Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Parata Hekia: Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:655;Page:4748] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 Tena koe e te Heamana. Huri noa i to tatou Whare i tenei po tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa. 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Chairman and to you throughout our House this evening greetings to us all. 
] 
I am delighted to seek a call to speak in support of the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill. I am a new member of this House; I am therefore a new member on the special Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee that has been put together to look at the wider issues on climate change and the emissions trading scheme. 
I acknowledge the extreme complexity of this area and the very steep learning curve that has probably been vertical if not backwards for me in getting to grips with the vast range of issues that bear on this topic and the numerous organisations and people who maintain a very strong interest in this area. I acknowledge that our present is built on the past and on those who have contributed to it in order that we can have a strong future. I am delighted to be a part of that select committee and to acknowledge the hard work of the people on it and the learning that I have received from many of them who have been engaged in this area of work for some time and certainly for a lot longer than I have been. I have become very sensitive to how sensitive the range of factors and variables are that need to be balanced in order for us as a small country to navigate our way forward from this point knowing that what we do impacts not only on those of us here today but also on the generations that come after us and knowing that we are a part player in the greater global community and that what we do and what they do will form the history and herstory of what we confronted and what we did about it. 
I acknowledge the colleagues from whom I have learnt in the select committee. In considering the bill that is here before us here today I acknowledge my colleague Mr Chauvel for the amendment he brought to the committee. 
The forestry sector is an extremely important part of the New Zealand economy. It is important that we provide certainty to it while acknowledging that its role is part of a greater picture. This bill which is a technical bill allows us to defer the time line by which considerations occur and Mr Chauvel’s amendment has established the date of 1 July 2010. But decisions have to be made by that date and we have heard our Minister in the chair the Hon Dr Nick Smith respond to the question put to him in the Committee tonight on whether there might be an opportunity for these decisions to be made somewhat earlier. In his response he has indicated that that might be possible but that a number of factors would need to be considered before it was finalised. 
This bill gives to the forestry sector not only certainty of the date by which these considerations will occur but also an indication that it might be possible for them to occur earlier. It has also indicated to those many thousands or perhaps hundreds of small forest owners that they will have the opportunity to hear in more detail the information that will be necessary for them to be able to play their part in this very complicated chess game I suppose that New Zealand is engaged in not only within our own country and the number of sectors that contribute to it but also in terms of what we need to be balancing in terms of our contribution to the wider world. 
It is very technical. As we have learnt not only is there a number of different kinds of forests but also there are different kinds of plantings different times at which those plantings have occurred and therefore different impacts upon them. We have heard about the aspiration for there to be a market established in which carbon credits can be traded and we have heard that there is a preponderance of sellers and a very minimal number of buyers. Thus the notion of a market has been rendered—a notion at its best at the moment although we hope that it will achieve some reality over time. In the meantime we are looking to ensure that while the select committee continues its considerations we are able to give some certainty to those members of the forestry sector.