Turei Metiria: General Debate 
Turei Metiria: General Debate 
[Volume:638;Page:8849] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Before I briefly discuss the issue of wind farms I want first to acknowledge today’s announcement by John Key and Helen Clark as a very significant step towards the kind of consensus politics that we would like to see much more of—and that I think the public would like to see much more of—from this House. I think they have taken a very important step and we certainly appreciate it. I think it is also a victory for the role of the smaller parties in this House—the Greens for bringing forward a very controversial issue the Maori Party and New Zealand First for their work on managing those issues themselves and with their own constituencies and of course United Future and Peter Dunne for his work in trying to find the key to unlock some of the issues between people. This is a very controversial issue and it has been very emotional. Some have suffered quite seriously from abuse around this issue and it is good to see Parliament making real attempts to try to work through it sensibly. We congratulate Parliament on that; we think this really raises the esteem of Parliament in the eyes of the public. 
The Central Otago District Council is hearing submissions at the moment on the Lammermoor wind farm the Project Hayes wind farm proposed by Meridian Energy. It is a very controversial project. The Lammermoor Range is a beautiful landscape—I have been there and seen it myself—so people are very concerned about the landscape values that will be disrupted by the wind farm. The transportation of the turbines will cause serious disruption for the residents of Dunedin in particular and for those in other areas around Mosgiel and Otago. The Lammermoor area is also a very historical area. The Dunstan track is part of the goldmining history of that part of the country and it is very significant. So there are real issues for the community about this wind farm project. 
It is also true to say that no major ecological or fragile areas will be disrupted by the wind farm and we have information about that from very experienced people involved in the environmental movement in Dunedin. It is also grazed land currently used to feed various animals including cows. It is private land—not conservation land and not reserve land but privately owned land. 
The real issue here in my view is that this is a choice not between a wind farm and the landscape values of the Lammermoors but between the unfettered demand for energy by the community including business and the destruction of our natural environment of New Zealand species of our fisheries and of other areas. The Green Party is a strong proponent of wind farms and renewable energy. We must stop burning coal for energy. It is accelerating the climate change that we see happening around us. Climate change threatens our oceans. It threatens our fish species. Acidification and a temperature rise in the oceans will damage our fishing industry. Climate change threatens forests. There are trees that are flowering and producing fruit earlier than in the past and that then also threatens the native species that depend on those trees for their food source. Climate change threatens communities through erratic weather patterns. The floods that we are seeing in our country and the droughts that we will continue to see in areas like Canterbury—those are the environmental impacts of doing nothing and simply continuing with the way that we have been doing things. 
The Greens want to see small energy generation where it is possible—community based and close to the source or to the demand. Small hydro generation still remains an option in many areas and we need to diversify our energy capacity. The South Island—this may come as a surprise to some—has been a net importer of energy over the last few years as well as the North Island. There is an issue for the generation of electricity locally. 
Yes we need to have a national strategy for wind farms. Yes they should be smaller rather than larger. Yes they must avoid damage to fragile environments. The Project Hayes wind farm will have an impact on the landscape of the Lammermoors—absolutely it will. I hope Meridian Energy will look at reducing the size of the farm and reconsider the transportation options that it has put forward in order to reduce the impact on the community. But we must reduce our energy demand as a community and our pursuit of unlimited economic growth. We must reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and obtain energy from renewable resources. The cost to our environment communities and economy will be severe if we do not. Wind farms are our only choice in the absence of community support that chooses this beautiful landscape over our increasing energy demand. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.