Ririnui Mita: Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:655;Page:4755] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to take once again a short call on the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Forestry Sector) Amendment Bill and to reiterate the Labour Opposition’s support for the bill. However Labour is supporting this bill provided the Government replaces the provisions with the dates set by Order in Council with the dates specified in the legislation. 
This bill will provide some certainty for the forestry sector which is quickly losing confidence in the National Government because of its lack of direction on the emissions trading scheme. The future of the scheme is still uncertain. The legislation is still before the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee and the Government has failed to outline a clear plan of how it will amend the emissions trading scheme legislation. We need to ensure that the scheme has real integrity. 
Labour has taken the responsible approach and sought to find common ground with the Government. Labour is taking this responsible stance because it recognises the importance of consensus around the emissions trading scheme. It is a crucial part of ensuring New Zealand moves towards a path of long-term low carbon economic growth and uncertainty cannot be allowed to continue. The Labour Party has offered to have talks with the Government about whether we can achieve bipartisan certainty on the wider questions around the emissions trading policy and Labour will approach this task in good faith. We do so with the desire to achieve a system that will be durable and in the best interests of not only New Zealand industry but also the New Zealand environment. The National Government’s policy has been to stall and delay and it has cost New Zealand certainly in terms of confidence. This complete lack of direction and inability to provide any form of credible leadership is costing New Zealand dearly in terms of its reputation. 
The Government has made New Zealand the laughing stock internationally for its constant hand-wringing and flip-flops on the emissions trading scheme. Just the other day Minister Nick Smith came up with another excuse to further delay any progress on climate change policy. The Government negotiator told representatives at the Bonn Climate Change Talks that New Zealand would not confirm any 2020 pollution reduction target until it had undertaken public consultation. This announcement continues the parade of other excuses that he has used for not setting a target and amongst those excuses have been that the Government is awaiting new data harmonisation with Australia and investigation of a carbon tax. The list goes on and it becomes less credible and less consistent. 
New Zealand needs certainty over how the Government will respond to the threat of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. There is no economy-wide plan to deal with climate change and the challenges it presents. Instead the National Government has caused haemorrhaging of jobs and investments and uncertainty. The Government’s policies have brought the emerging carbon market to a halt. A major opportunity for our country to maximise our geographic skills base and our language and time-zone advantages were thrown away when the emissions trading scheme was put on hold. The same policy has cost us enormous international investment in the forestry sector along with hundreds of new jobs while 8 million seedlings rot into the ground as stated by previous speakers. 
Thanks to the Prime Minister’s failure to lead and his surrender to climate change extremists—in this case the ACT Party—there is no prospect that National’s promise of passing the amended emissions trading scheme within 9 months of taking office will be kept. Due to the National Government’s failure on climate change policy Labour has offered to assist to make some responsible amendments to the scheme. There needs to be certainty around the timing of the scheme instead of the current situation of confusion caused by the Government. 
I have heard previous speakers in the House today make reference to the interests of Maori foresters and landowners in general. A major event will take place this weekend when a number of Ministers and Labour MPs attend the hand-over ceremony in Turangi of the CNI Iwi Holdings assets. I am sure that part of the discussions that will take place on the day will be on the uncertainty around the emissions trading scheme. While in Government Labour provided a high level of confidence that it had a clear pathway ahead on the scheme. That is no longer the case and I am sure that question will be put to Ministers of the Crown when they attend the hand-over ceremony this weekend. 
That is my contribution to the third reading of this bill. The fact that there is a high level of uncertainty amongst our foresters and landowners particularly Maori needs to be made clear in this House. Thank you.