Shirley Ken: Resource Management (Energy and Climate Change) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Shirley Ken: Resource Management (Energy and Climate Change) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:615;Page:11338] 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (Deputy Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I can say in speaking to the title that ACT opposes the title. We opposed Part 1 we opposed Part 2 we oppose the title and indeed believe it or not we will vote against and oppose the bill in its entirety. This is thoroughly bad legislation brought to this Parliament by this minority Labour-Progressive Government. It is bad legislation. 
I will not dream up fanciful names. I think the way that Parliament spends time putting up all sorts of silly titles of bills has become a bit puerile—“It’s Not the Banning of Coal Bill” which we heard from United Future and titles like that. It becomes a somewhat puerile debate and certainly beneath the dignity of an ACT MP. So I will merely address the title make the point that this is bad legislation and again call upon this Government and the Minister in the chair to do another U-turn and another flip-flop. That is becoming habitual for this Government but Mr Duynhoven would actually be doing the country a service if he were to ring up his Cabinet Ministers tonight call a special meeting of Cabinet and tell them: “No folks this is doing huge damage to the country. We’re on a loser. We should pull this bill and do a flip-flop.” 
Mr Duynhoven should also tell Cabinet Ministers that they should withdraw the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol—that fundamentally flawed nonsense that this Labour-Progressive coalition Government has committed this country to. This bill is a consequence of that. It might be dressed up with the title “Resource Management (Energy and Climate Change) Amendment Bill” but it is the first of many. We will have a raft of this sort of legislation. Local government does not know what will hit it when this bill is passed into law. It is frightful legislation. 
It is not only the climate change aspect as mentioned in the title; it is also the energy aspect as also mentioned in the title. We in this country regrettably are facing a looming energy crisis. It is just starting to dawn on many New Zealanders. I know that the business sector is hugely alarmed at the crisis that will confront this country. Possibly as early as next year—which I remind members is election year—we could be facing one of the biggest energy crises that this country has seen. If this Government is prepared to do triple backflips and U-turns when it is enjoying great economic conditions thanks to Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson imagine the amount of flip-flops and U-turns it will be prepared to do when a cold draught is blowing up its majority due to bad economic conditions brownouts pensioners not being able to keep warm in winter and the power going off at 5 o’clock every night! That is the way we are heading because of foolish legislation such as this and this Government’s foolish adherence to the fundamentally flawed Kyoto Protocol. 
The Government has already confiscated the property rights of the foresters. It has stripped them of their property rights. The Government said it wanted a trading carbon model based on the sequestration of carbon. If that were true if the Government wanted a trading mechanism it would have left the property right with the foresters so that they had something to trade; instead the Government nationalised it. Everything we see from the Government on energy is all about central control and nationalisation. That is what is leading to the crisis and it is embodied in the title of this bill.