Smith Nick: General Debate 
Smith Nick: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:12012] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 It is an indictment on democracy that New Zealand First and Labour are backing a bill that the Human Rights Commission and Mike Moore—and Mike Moore—have described as a dangerous attack on the principles of free speech. Surrounding this Chamber are memorials to men who died in wars defending the rights of free speech and democracy. It is a shame that members on Labour’s side of the House backed by New Zealand First are prepared for their own political expediency to break the right of free speech that New Zealanders should have. 
This afternoon I want to talk about the attempts Labour is making to save its bacon in the area of climate change. My simple message is that after 8 years of failure the public of New Zealand cannot trust Labour on climate change and on the environment. First let us look at Labour’s record on emissions. It is not just that emissions have gone up under Labour but that they have gone up at record rates. When Labour came into Government it promised it would reduce emissions by 20 percent by 2005. The record shows that emissions have gone up by 12 percent. Worse is that the rise in the preceding 5 years was just 8 percent. So emissions are going up by even more. During the same period in which emissions have gone up by 12 percent in New Zealand they have gone up by 8 percent in Australia 5 percent in the US and 2 percent in Japan and countries like Britain Germany and France have been able to cut their emissions by 2 percent. In fact the record of this Government is the 18th worst in the OECD. 
Also an important test of the Government’s record on climate change is the area of more sustainable energy. The proportion of renewable electricity in New Zealand has dropped every single year that Labour has been in office. In fact the big change that has occurred under this carbon-neutral Government is that we have increased the amount of power produced from coal by threefold. To put the growth of coal-generated power in context it is seven times the increase in power from wind farms. 
A further worrying statistic was developed yesterday by the Minister and that is in respect of forests. Every single year between 1951 and 2003 New Zealand planted more trees—in fact an average of 7 million more trees every year. In 2004 we lost 1.5 million trees in 2005 we lost another 3 million and last year we lost another 3 million. The Minister admitted yesterday that 4 million trees are expected to be lost this year which will make it the worst year ever in New Zealand history in terms of the loss of forests. 
It is not just in outcomes that Labour’s climate change policies have been an absolute shambles. We have had one announcement after another on which the Government has had to pull the plug. There have been 23 announcements by this Government on climate change and 19 of those the Government has had to withdraw or has had to collapse. I ask this House why there should be great expectations of the Government doing anything tomorrow on climate change that is useful when we have had one disaster after another over its past 8 years. We have seen for instance negotiated greenhouse agreements announced and scrapped. We have seen the carbon tax announced then scrapped. We have seen the animal emissions levy announced then scrapped. We had $100 million spent on the energy efficiency strategy and then the Government said: “Oops! Energy efficiency has actually got worse.” 
I say to members opposite that the Government has had 8 years of climate change failure and New Zealanders have lost faith. New Zealanders simply do not believe anything Labour says any more in the area of climate change. I have here on my desk a heap of all of the discussion papers that Labour has put out on climate change. There has been all this paper all the forests that have been chopped down yet we have not seen progress. That is why none are holding their breath for tomorrow.