Smith Stuart; Shaw JamesSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Mr Speaker. SPEAKER: Oh I've lost your name. Hon Members: Stuart Smith. SPEAKER: I call the member. STUART SMITH: Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm glad that the Climate Change Commission has listened to the National Party through our submission on their original draft and dropped the recommended policy positions that they had in their draft report. The National Party has a history of mitigating the effects of climate change. Under the National Government renewables increased from 65 percent to 85 percent and we signed the Paris Agreement and we supported the zero carbon Act. We also supported the establishment of the climate commission. We still however have some concerns regarding the policy interventions addressed in the report but we support a split-gas approach and we also support the use of carbon budgets to reach our goals. Farmers are being asked to do more in the final report than they were under the zero carbon Act and that really does raise some concerns because the zero carbon Act targets were significantly challenging in and of themselves. Also of concern is the first emissions budget which has New Zealand reducing emissions by 8 percent in just four years. Given that under this Government emissions have increased by 2 percent and we're on track to burn over 2 million tonnes of coal this year generating electricity we first have to slow down our emissions to bring them back to zero before we start reducing them so it's quite a challenge. However as the Government reflects on and works through this report we will continue to advocate for New Zealanders to ensure that we are not having command-and-control policies foisted upon us. I'd now like to ask the Minister a couple of questions if I may. Is the Minister confident that the two months allowed for the commission to consider the over 15000 submissions was enough to then reflect those submissions in the final report? Hon JAMES SHAW (Minister of Climate Change): Yes I am confident in it. If the Climate Change Commission had advised me that they didn't feel that they could do it then I would have considered a request from them but they didn't say at any point that they felt that they couldn't do it. In fact we did give them an extension during the initial consultation phase and when they asked for that I did ask them whether that left them with sufficient time to consider the responses and they said that it did. STUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Is the Minister satisfied with the commission's handling of the media given the 40 minutes that they were given to read the report before going into a press conference to ask the Prime Minister questions on the report and—going back to the draft report—that some hand-picked journalists were given an advance copy of the draft report? Hon JAMES SHAW (Minister of Climate Change): Well any concerns about today's lock-ups should be directed at me rather than at the commission because it was my office that organised that not the commission. Stuart Smith: I did ask if you were satisfied. Hon JAMES SHAW: Well you asked if I was satisfied with the commission and the response to that is yes. They didn't handle today's media; I did. STUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Is the Minister satisfied that the commissioners had enough time to read the report before they signed it off? Hon JAMES SHAW (Minister of Climate Change): I think given the calibre of people on the commission they wouldn't have signed off something that they felt uncomfortable that they didn't have time to consider. I also would say that I have been advised that every single recommendation in there was by the unanimous consent of the commissioners. STUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): We've received reports that commissioners had less than 24 hours to consider the report before signing it off. Is the Minister aware of that and if so—or even if he isn't—does he think that's satisfactory given the report is over 400 pages? Hon JAMES SHAW (Minister of Climate Change): I haven't received those reports no. STUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Does the Minister think that the public would have any confidence in the final report if it turned out that the commissioners had less than 24 hours to consider the report before signing it off? Hon JAMES SHAW (Minister of Climate Change): Oh I think that that question really should be directed at the commission themselves. You know it is an extraordinary body of people. They have put in a huge amount of work over the course of the preceding 18 months and I don't know where he's getting his rumours from. STUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Is the Minister aware that Dr Rod Carr is not a member of Parliament and I can't ask him that question in the House? Hon JAMES SHAW (Minister of Climate Change): Yes.