Turei Metiria: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Turei Metiria: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:858] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 I want to take a reasonably short call on the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill. My colleague Jeanette Fitzsimons has described in some detail the facts about this issue the extent to which the Minister has got the issue completely wrong and why this bill is such a bad thing for the National Government to pursue. I want to talk about the international concern about biofuels and particularly unsustainable biofuels. There is a range of different kinds of unsustainable biofuels and I want to describe some of them. 
Unsustainable biofuels are those where the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of the biofuels are high. There is simply no means by which a biofuel is a viable alternative to the use of fossil fuels where in the production of that biofuel the greenhouse gas emissions are equivalent to those of fossil fuels themselves. It was very important in the setting of the sustainability standards that we made it very clear that a sustainable biofuel was only one that had a reduced level of greenhouse gas emissions over the life cycle of that fuel—a 35 percent reduction as a minimum so that it was a real reduction. 
But now that the National Government is repealing that legislation there will be absolutely no requirement in law that the biofuels used in this country emit less greenhouse gas than oil-based fuels. Taking that as one example we will shortly have biofuels imported by large fuel companies and being used in this country—mostly because the New Zealand industry is being slaughtered by this legislation—that are likely to emit over their life cycle the same greenhouse gas emissions as or possibly even more than oil-based fuels. So the repeal of the legislation by the National Government is likely to maintain greenhouse gas emissions at the same rate as at present for transport fuels or possibly even increase them. Certainly it will make no contribution at all to New Zealand’s obligation to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. 
 The door will be open even further in terms of unsustainable biofuels in that the biofuels that the National Government is allowing to be brought into the country are unsustainable in terms of food production. Biofuels will be imported that are produced on land that people would otherwise have used to produce food for themselves their families and their communities or would have used in further trade around their communities to support themselves. A significant amount of writing has been done on this issue around the globe by people like Vandana Shiva. She has written a great deal about the impact of unsustainable biofuels on the poorest communities around the world in terms of the displacement of people and the theft of land. There has been a significant theft of land managed or owned by very poor communities; it has been taken off them by large international corporations. Some people have reported having land taken off them at the point of a gun; they have been forced off their land by the employees of mining companies and palm oil companies particularly in areas like the Solomon Islands. 
I have been to the Solomon Islands and visited with people there who were campaigning against unsustainable biofuels particularly those produced from palm oil. Much of the land those communities were living on and the forests those communities were living in were being used as a food source. People were also using those resources to build their homes and care for their children and they were using the forests as the source of medicines. Those communities were engaged in ancient knowledge ancient cultures and ancient traditions. Their lands were being stolen from them at the point of a gun because of the drive for unsustainable biofuels. International companies wanted the land in order to produce unsustainable biofuels that they could then sell on to Western countries like New Zealand because there is a demand for biofuels here. 
So what did we just make sure of? The Green Party along with Labour and even with a bit of agreement from Nick Smith agreed that we should have sustainability standards in New Zealand law that would say a sustainable biofuel was one that was not produced in competition with food production and was not grown on land that was used for food production and that would not impact on indigenous biodiversity. That standard is currently in the law that is soon to be repealed by National. It would have made sure that no biofuels imported into this country came from the end of a gun at the cost of indigenous communities losing their forests and watching their homes be bulldozed by international fuel companies who wanted their land to grow biofuels on. Under the existing law we would have made sure that biofuels produced in such circumstances did not come into New Zealand. New Zealanders would have felt absolutely assured that— 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Where are the standards? 
METIRIA TUREI 
: The standards are in the law. The Minister of Energy and Resources does not know where they are because he has not bothered to read the legislation. He has no idea what he is talking about. He has not seen the standards so obviously he has not looked at the legislation that is in place at this very moment which he is repealing. He obviously does not even know what he is repealing. 
Those standards are in place right now and New Zealanders would have been assured that they were not responsible for the destruction of homes the theft of land and the destruction of indigenous rainforests around the world particularly in the Pacific. Those rainforests are very important not only for biodiversity reasons but also as food sources and medical sources for the people who depend on them. The poorest people on this earth rely on those natural resources for their lives but those resources are being taken off them by multinational corporations that want to grow biofuels to feed greedy Westerners who just want cheap and easy biofuels. The National Government is making sure it is possible now to import such biofuels into this country. 
It is also worthwhile to remember that not only is National opening the door for unsustainable biofuels to come into New Zealand but also it is providing public money to the companies that are part of the process of stealing land off poor people threatening them with a gun and destroying the indigenous forestry and rainforests. National is to give those companies subsidies to do all of those things. Not only will the subsidies go to those companies but also the same process of subsidising international companies will mean that our New Zealand domestic industry involving sustainable biofuels made from waste products will be killed off. The public purse is being used to fund the theft of land by multinational corporations and the destruction of New Zealanders’ jobs and New Zealand’s domestic biofuels industry. That is the National Government’s recipe for the economic—I do not know what it is; it is certainly not economic growth or development—degradation of this country. 
It is a tragedy for New Zealand to see that in just this one little piece of legislation which is only a few clauses and a couple of pages long. This bill is just a tiny little thing but inside it we can see the whole of the National Government’s policy and programme for this country which is to be as unsustainable as possible in the interests of both greed and international companies to destroy New Zealand industry to encourage job losses rather than job growth and to make it as hard as possible for the international community to look on us with anything but disgust and distaste. 
This legislation along no doubt with other legislation that is to pass sometime in the future and certainly a bundle that passed last week just goes to show the extent to which the National Government will drive this country into the dark ages. It will drive New Zealand back to a time when unsustainable growth and a very large pool of unemployed workers were created to the benefit of wealthier companies and particularly international companies; and back to a time when public money is funnelled either into private schools—we see almost a doubling of funding for private schools by the National Government—or into private companies so that more and more money is taken out of the public purse and given to private profit-making enterprises all in the name of greed and the National Government. So much for a brighter future! Indeed this National Government will drive New Zealand back into the dark ages and we will be ashamed to face up to the international scrutiny that will no doubt come as a result of that. In the context of indigenous communities that have relied on Western countries like our own country to put their interests at least a little into our consideration we might at least acknowledge the fact that their homes and livelihoods are to be destroyed. This National Government has no concern for them or for the interests of New Zealand. 
This is a sad sad day and this bill is a disgraceful act on National’s part.