Smith Nick: Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Smith Nick: Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:655;Page:4724] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Climate Change Issues) 
: 
 I move  
That the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. I first thank the special select committee the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee chaired by the Hon Peter Dunne for at short notice giving consideration to this bill. I also thank the members of the select committee who have made constructive changes to the bill and also members of the House for agreeing to allow this bill to progress through the House today 30 June. 
I want to quickly recite what this bill does in respect of the broader debate around emissions trading the forestry sector and the huge issue of climate change. There are three particular provisions in this bill. The first amends the date on which foresters are able to report deforestation and to surrender units. The intent of this bill is to put forward the dates by which that reporting and the surrendering of the relevant units are required. In the original Act it was required on 31 January this year. It is intended to push that out to 31 January next year because the level of awareness of the obligation is not high—I am embarrassed to say that even some Government agencies did not meet their requirements to do so by 31 January and I am sure that many other New Zealanders who own forests that may have been removed last year did not meet that reporting requirement. To give another year given the complexity of emissions trading makes good sense. 
Two further substantive dates are changed as a result of this bill. The first is the date by which the Government is required to provide for an allocation plan of units under the emissions trading scheme for owners of forests that were planted before 1990. The reasons that it would be unwise to publish an allocation plan at this time are that there has been a formal review of the emissions trading scheme there have been many topical issues around forestry before the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee and it would be somewhat contradictory and confusing for the Government at the very time when those key provisions are being reviewed to proceed with an allocation plan. The bill that I introduced provided for that date to be extended by Order in Council. I note that an amendment for the date to be 1 July which was advanced by Labour and Mr Charles Chauvel has been included in the bill as it has come back from the select committee. I think that is a reasonable timetable. I also think it is good to have the flexibility whereby it could be done earlier than that. In my view the timetable will provide a sensible transition for the issues around the allocation plan. 
The third issue that is developed and addressed in this bill is in respect of the timing by which owners of forests of a smaller area—fewer than 50 hectares—apply to have them exempted under the emissions trading scheme. It was to be a requirement that all applications for an exemption be lodged by today. Again it is the view of the Government that given the review that has taken place in the select committee and the low level of public awareness of that obligation it makes sense for that date to be put out into the future. Members opposite propose that the deadline for applications for exemptions be extended to 1 July 2010. Again that is a sensible change and one that I am happy to support. We will bring that amendment through into the final bill. 
I stress to the House that none of these three changes being made affects any requirements and obligations that foresters have under the emissions trading scheme. It is only a shifting of the dates by which they are required to report and a shifting of the dates by which the Government is required to provide for an allocation plan. It is the Government’s view that introducing forestry into an emissions trading scheme is a very complex and challenging task. We are the first country in the world to attempt to bring forestry into an emissions trading scheme and it needs to be done in a considered and careful way. 
We should note that in recent years the loss of significant areas of forestry has contributed to quite negative numbers for New Zealand around the issue of climate change. We should acknowledge that the emissions trading scheme has proved successful in stopping a large increase of deforestation since the scheme came into effect on 1 January 2008 but we need to work through these detailed issues in a considered way to ensure that it works. 
This is a minor bill. The House will need to consider later this year a more substantive emissions trading amendment bill to make it into a scheme that is workable and that can carefully balance New Zealand’s environmental and economic interests. The Government awaits with great interest the work being done by the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee. When that work is complete our intent is to bring in a bill that will enable New Zealand to introduce and to get up and running the other parts of the emissions trading scheme. 
Again I thank members of the House. I thank the select committee for its work and the officials who have supported that select committee work. I commend the bill to the House for its second reading.