O'Rourke Denis: Climate Change Response (Removal of Transitional Measure) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Rourke Denis: Climate Change Response (Removal of Transitional Measure) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 26 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11384. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First): Here in this bill is one small step for “Kiwi-kind” but one massive trip-up for climate change targets as far as New Zealand is concerned. Here is one small step in a complete absence of any genuine plan or strategy for New Zealand to achieve or even make any significant progress towards achieving its Paris commitments to climate change and the reduction of emissions. That is the truth of the matter there.I recently attended a forum in Christchurch on climate change. Chatham House Rules applied so I cannot quote anybody who was there but I can say that there were business people there. I was encouraged by the positive attitude that they had to taking some real steps towards the reduction in emissions for climate change purposes in New Zealand. It was very good to see that because they were enthusiastic and wanted to get things done. They had a pretty good understanding of what would be expected of them and they actually saw it as an opportunity for many of them to get a competitive advantage over other businesses that were not taking the actions that would be required.Other people present were from local government. They were calling out for central government leadership on these issues. In fact local government was champing at the bit. They wanted to hear from central government what its plans were so that local government could do its bit towards tackling climate change through the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in particular. All we get in response from the Government is not only no leadership but no genuine action at all or vague commitments that actually amount to nothing much more than planning to plan for the future. All these months after the Paris commitments were given that is as far as we have got and now there is this minor insignificant step forward.I heard today from Government speakers about consultation and how wonderful it had been that 75 percent of those consulted would support this measure. But the truth is that there has actually been no consultation at all on the much more important question about what specific steps New Zealand will take to achieve its climate change commitments. There has been no talk about that no consultation at all and yet these people are waiting ready and waiting to be talked to to make a contribution to find out what is expected of them and then to take those actions that are expected of them.Business agriculture and local government are looking for Government leadership because they want to act. They need to know how they should act. Business people in particular need to know that there will be a level playing field that has to be achieved by a comprehensive raft of regulation. There is no other way of doing it. They want to see that in place so that they can take the actions they want to take. They need the benefit of research factual material that can be put in front of them by the Government so that they can back up the actions they are taking and get confidence that they are doing the right thing.But we are not seeing any of this from this Government. It is a complete void. There is a complete lack of consultation a complete lack of communication and actually a virtually complete lack of action other than this pathetic little measure we are seeing in this bill. In fact you could accurately call it nothing more than window dressing because that is all it is. It is such a minute contribution that it will actually make little or no progress at all towards a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in New Zealand.I want to mention now some of the things I have read in Paula Bennett’s news release today. The first thing she says is: “The subsidy will be phased out over three years to give businesses time to plan and adjust to support a more stable market.” She then says: “The current 50 per cent unit cost will increase to 67 per cent from 1 January then 83 per cent from 1 January 2018 with all sectors in the ETS paying the full market price from 1 January 2019.” The third thing she says is: “The current price ceiling which caps units at $25 will remain.” And then for some strange reason she says: “This is a significant step in helping New Zealand meet its ambitious target of reducing emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.”We are expected to believe that these measures are a significant step when in fact they are going to take 3 years to implement. As I said business people including those in the agricultural sector and in local government across the board in New Zealand are desperate for much more significant measures than these. They are willing to play their part but the Government is not telling them what to do. Instead it is telling them that as far as the emissions trading scheme is concerned it will take 3 years to get there. That is absolutely pathetic. The measure itself is pathetic enough but to actually take 3 years to get there is even more pathetic.Furthermore the current price ceiling that caps units at $25 will remain. So what that means is that we are going to have to wait for a very long time before we get a genuine market for the price of units in New Zealand. Without that actually being allowed to happen—because it will take 3 years for this measure alone to be implemented and even then there will be a price ceiling of $25—we are not actually going to see a genuine market in New Zealand emerge for a very long time. That time frame is totally unacceptable. It makes this measure as I have said nothing more than window dressing.The people of New Zealand especially the business people of New Zealand the people in the agricultural sector of New Zealand the people in local government and the public generally all deserve much stronger leadership from that Minister and this Government than a pathetic measure like this that will take 3 years to implement and in the absence of any genuine plan or strategy for the achievement of New Zealand’s climate change target as committed to in Paris all those months ago. Frankly if this is as good as this Government can deliver then it really deserves to be voted out of office at the next election. Let us hope that happens.