Sio William: Climate Change Response (Removal of Transitional Measure) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSio William: Climate Change Response (Removal of Transitional Measure) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 26 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11415. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): Good morning. Talofa lava. Maleifua maia lau afioga i le Fofoga Fetalai.Good morning Mr Assistant Speaker. I want to follow on from Dr Kennedy Graham and from others from New Zealand First in saying to this Parliament that there is a real need for us to take this issue seriously lay aside the politics and take on board the call that Dr Megan Woods has made that we come together cross-party to come up with solutions that will not only address our international obligations relating to climate change but also do the right thing for this country and its future generations. I have got four points and I hope that you will not intervene when I mention the Pacific in this debate Mr Assistant Speaker.The first point that I want to make is that people would have noticed a report that the New Zealand Herald made yesterday with reference to an event organised by community workers called Park up for homes Māngere—park up your cars for homes in Māngere. I bring that to the attention of this House because I have been asked to invite the Government Ministers to participate in this event.Hon Gerry Brownlee: That’s about as wide of the wicket as you can get. We’re debating climate change.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: I will get to the point Gerry—I will get to the point. Climate change contrary to the views on the other side is not just about rising sea water levels. It is also about the fact that our climate is changing. It is getting colder; it is getting hotter. Last February was one of the hottest summers in our history and people here are fearful that this winter is going to be the coldest winter in our history.So in light of what this Government said at the beginning of this Budget that there is no support for people sleeping in cars this is an event to give the opportunity to Government members to come and park their cars and sleep from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on 16 June so that they can experience for themselves the kind of cold environment that the public of New Zealand are going to experience this particular winter. So that is the first point. Gerry Brownlee might want to attend but I am particularly inviting the Ministers who live in Auckland. Come join us. Bring your car and experience for yourselves what it is like to sleep in a car during this cold winter.The second point I want to make—[Interruption] I would not want to sleep with him either. The second point I want to make is that I am pleased that Minister Bennett has taken this step. She has also acknowledged that it is not enough and we say to her continue the work and look broader. In addition to what we have got to do here in New Zealand we have also got to repair our damaged reputation.I will give some points which were raised earlier by some of the other speakers. At the Paris meeting on the very first day we received a Fossil of the Day award. The Fossil of the Day is awarded by a global international network of climate change activists which includes some of the scientists who are working with the United Nations to provide the evidence for countries to use to combat climate change. That award was awarded to us because the Prime Minister made the point at that event that his Government was abolishing the subsidies on fossil fuels but the global international network of activists knows that that is not true and that since his election in 2008 the fossil fuel subsidies have actually increased by 700 percent. So we do need to do more to repair our damaged reputation.Hon Gerry Brownlee: That’s an outright lie.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: That is not a lie. That is not a lie. In fact I quote the report that was made—the Prime Minister was hypocritical in his statement—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order! The word “lies” is unparliamentary and we will not use it again and to say the Government is hypocritical—that is out too.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: That was the second point. We got a fossil fuel award because of the failure of this Government to abolish fossil fuel subsidies. It has gone up 700 percent since the Prime Minister came into power.The third point is that a report was released in February of this year by Gareth Morgan saying that our Government is a climate change cheat. That report revealed that the emissions trading scheme has meant that we have been emitting emissions by purchasing credits from other countries or other companies that are reducing their emissions. This report highlighted the fact that we have been buying credit from countries whose credit schemes are deemed fraudulent. Ukraine is one and Russia is one that this report revealed. This Government knows that they are fraudulent but it continues to use these credits to show the international community as if we are meeting our international obligations.We got a second fossil fuel award because we are at the bottom of the 20 percent of countries with the lowest emissions targets. We got a second fossil fuel award because we are saying to the international community that we have reduced our emissions of carbon by continuing to emit and to buy credit that is fraudulent. Despite the fact that we know that these credits are fraudulent we are holding them up to show that we are doing our part and that is simply not true. The point I am making is that the Minister needs to do more.The Government needs to repair our reputation and the harm and damage that her colleagues have caused in damaging the clean green climate image we had once upon a time. The previous Labour Government did a lot of work and once upon a time we were seen by the international community as a credible voice on climate change. The Pacific Governments tell me this but now they tell me that this Government has got a reputation that they cannot trust. They cannot trust this Government when it comes to climate change because at that Paris meeting this Government blocked off the call for compensation for the most vulnerable countries affected by climate change. This is the country that led that charge. This is the country that goes out and says to the Pacific community: “We are your friend. We are going to support you.” So on the one hand it says that and on the other hand it does these other things like blocking what those countries are saying.In that report in the fossil fuel award that the country received the global climate change activists did use that word that you have asked me not to use Mr Assistant Speaker: the “h” word. They used that word to describe the action of this Prime Minister and that is not anything that we can be proud of. Those awards are not awards to be proud of; they are rebukes by the international community. They are awards that should make us hang our heads in shame.I want to say that I wrote a members’ notice of motion and I do not know whether that Government took notice of it but I want to repeat it for the Government’s sake. On Tuesday I moved “That this House acknowledge and take note that newly released scientific evidence confirms that climate change with sea level rise erosion and coastal flooding is a significant threat to the safety and security of the people in the Pacific with evidence published in the Environmental Research Letters revealing that five reef islands of the Solomon Islands group that once supported dense tropical vegetation which was at least 300 years old had disappeared while a further six had severe shoreline recession further evidence of the urgent need to tackle climate change and further note that New Zealand should prepare for the emergency of people in the Pacific who are or will be displaced from their homes and land through no fault of their own but as a result of climate change.”The point made is that this Government has used this Budget and has used this legislation to appear as if it is doing something when it is a baby step as my colleagues have called it. I am glad that the Minister has acknowledged that more needs to be done but a great deal more needs to be done with some sense of urgency. I know that she is probably surrounded by people on her side who do not believe that climate change is realbut I am glad that she acknowledges that.I ask this Government to take on the challenge. Treat it as real. Come out on 16 June to Māngere with your car. Sleep in the car and experience for yourself the cold climates that the people of New Zealand are experiencing right now.