Shaw JamesHon JAMES SHAW (Minister of Climate Change): Thank you Madam Speaker. Look I'd like to just start my contribution to this debate with a few ripostes to some of what I've heard before such as the recent plan to reduce New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the number of flights that members of Parliament take. I mean if there was ever a virtue signalling that would be it. I also would like to mention what it is that some of our trading partners are doing because one of the things I just heard was that we should tag our ambitions to the ambitions of other countries around the world. There's been a lot of movement on that recently. Every single G7 nation now has a net zero target for 2050—including all emissions including biogenic methane—and are therefore more ambitious than New Zealand's targets are ourselves that we were able to get through this House last year. Even China now has a net zero target for 2060. So actually we are now in the position of having to play catch-up to some of the world's largest economies. I look forward to the wholehearted support of the ACT and National parties as we do try and meet the rest of the world on that. I would like to start by just acknowledging what I thought was a mostly thoughtful contribution from the new National Party spokesperson on climate change Stuart Smith and I want to congratulate him on his first appointment. I do want to say the National Party—I want to acknowledge the contribution that they have made over the years and in their time in Government. I know I had a go at them at question time but it was the National Party that took us into the Paris Agreement. I acknowledge the presence in the Chamber of the Hon Simon Bridges who was there for that. It was the National Party who lodged our nationally determined contribution under it. It was the National Party who voted for the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act. It was the Hon Steven Joyce who set up the Productivity Commission report that turned into this Government's climate action plan that that National Party then voted against every measure of. That National Party rejected the idea of a feebate scheme for electric vehicles which was one of the recommendations of the Productivity Commission report that the Hon Steven Joyce set up. I want to say if they think that this declaration is devoid of substance then I look forward to their full-hearted support of every single policy that we introduce over the next three years to actually put some substance into this and to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. You want to put your money where your mouth is folks.Look I want to point out some of the things that the Prime Minister mentioned about the machinery of Government here. We have been reluctant to declare a climate emergency that would just be empty words. It has to have substance. The Prime Minister and Cabinet have decided that there was going to be some machinery of Government that gets organised to make sure that this happens because we have seen jurisdictions—some local authorities here in New Zealand some jurisdictions overseas—that have made these declarations without providing substance. The Prime Minister is going to chair a committee of Ministers to make sure that Ministers and their agencies are accountable for all of the actions in the climate action plan; we're directing the Public Service to prioritise the actions that are in the climate action plan; everything that Stuart Smith said that he was worried about about the lack of a plan—we have a plan. We're now organising the Government to ensure the delivery of that plan in line with the fact that we are saying that this is an emergency that has a level of equivalence to any civil defence emergency. It's not a civil defence emergency of course but it is the cause of more frequency and more severity than every single civil defence emergency that we have except for earthquakes. Therefore we need to treat it as an emergency with the same level of seriousness that we would treat any civil defence emergency. The response is different from a civil defence emergency of course; if you declare a civil defence emergency there are certain authorities and powers that go with that. In this case we need to make sure that we have a long-term approach a just transition an approach that includes mana whenua and businesses and communities and enterprises all over the country. This is not just an emergency here in Aotearoa although the effects are being felt here. The Prime Minister referenced the Pacific Islands and I do want to say that the effects are being felt there much more severely much more early than they are being felt here. The Cook Islands believes that up to 25 percent of its annual budget is used in dealing with climate emergency responses. It is an absolute responsibility that we have to declare this emergency and to back it up with substance with action. Finally I'd just like to acknowledge the presence in the Chamber of many of the people who have held vigil: Ollie Langridge Fridays for climate the tens of thousands of people who marched before COVID on the school strikes for climate—this declaration is for you.