Swarbrick ChlöeCHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green): E Te Māngai tēnā koe. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. It is a pleasure to rise as the second Green speaker on this Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill. I just want to refer to that final speaker who has just taken his seat—Andrew Falloon who I have a lot of respect for across the House—and the fact that he quoted unprecedented economic circumstances" which is something we've heard a lot about recently. I want to ask Mr Falloon and the rest of his National Party colleagues whether they have heard about climate change because what we have here is a situation where insurers are backing away from South Dunedin homes and insuring those. They should talk to farmers about the increasingly unpredictable seasons that they are facing as a result of global warming. Or in fact they should just speak to experts. We'll just look at the data around mass migration or exacerbation of conflict driven by droughts and famine by climate change.The Climate Change Response Act 2002 is the same age as this year's new voters. For 18 years for their whole lives they have had a dysfunctional law which has allowed emissions to rise and our planet to warm. This Act first came into force 18 years ago to ratify the Kyoto Protocol which was built on the agreements from a whole 10 years before that in 1992 called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC for short which committed countries around the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 accepted firstly that global warming was happening. And secondly that and I quote "It is extremely likely that human-made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it." The Kyoto Protocol recognised the basic premise of common but differentiated responsibility. That is that we all share the same atmosphere but different countries have contributed different amounts to its warming and have a differing ability to change that. Many so-called developed countries have built their wealth off of the exploitation of our shared natural environment and therefore have a greater responsibility to draw down our carbon activity. It was not then immediately clear how we would go about drawing down this carbon but as a wealthy country Aotearoa New Zealand had an international obligation and we recognised that in law.Six years later in 2008 the final year of the Clark Labour Government the emissions trading scheme was introduced into this legislation by amendment. The emissions trading scheme was meant to be that "how" part of the puzzle. It's basically a market which puts a price on the limit of carbon. It prices what economists call externalities allowing companies to factor in the real cost of their commercial activity. It was an attempt to mitigate or at least try to end the privatisation of profit and socialisation of cost—money made off the back of grabbing scarce natural resources through pollution and that everybody else collectively paid to clean up. But then there was a global financial crisis and in 2008 a change of Government.The first action of that new National Government in the climate change sphere was to expand a programme of what is called free allocation. Free allocation is something that many people a whole lot smarter than myself—researchers and experts a whole lot more informed than many in this House—have spilt a lot of ink on. But the simple explanation is this: the emissions trading scheme means that polluters pay for their pollution and they are limited in how much pollution they can produce. But unfortunately this story is of course not that straightforward. It's actually probably rather reflective of the lobbying power of those already wealthy and powerful but their arguments that they shouldn't pay for their pollution were reflected in a concept of free allocation. It gives our most polluting industries an allocation of those emissions trading scheme units for doing nothing except exorbitantly polluting supposedly so that they can be incentivised to reduce that polluting. That is not a just transition. It is corporate welfare. But after being elected the 2008 National Party Government froze that annual generous grant of free allocation which was originally supposed to be a sinking lid. It meant that even as technology developed and industries got more carbon efficient and thankfully began producing less carbon they continued to get the same free ride. So even the National Party who so often invoke the free market should know and recognise that that is a messed up and significant market distortion.I am incredibly proud of the work that our Green climate Minister James Shaw has put into fixing this. We are thawing free allocation from National's attempts to freeze it in time and we will be wrangling it down. This is just the latest in a huge series of work that the Greens in this Government have undertaken to mobilise Aotearoa's potential for climate action. It builds on decades of advocacy activism and mahi of community leaders and of scientists. Firstly with regard to this our Green Minister James Shaw put the 1.5 degrees Celsius target of warming into this very Climate Change Response Act. We created the independent Climate Commission to hold us to account on that path. We've committed to carbon budget every five years as a stepping stone to that carbon neutrality. This is just another critical step in recognising that the economy exists within the environment jobs happen on the planet within the atmosphere.Many have noted that we are in the midst of the greatest global economic downturn in generations. But for a long while before that we recognised that the system was already broken. We do not fix that by going back to business as usual and we sure as anything do not fix it by going back even further than that. The National Party have banged on a lot in their contributions today about the potential debt that future generations will carry as a result of the necessary investments which I note they haven't proposed an alternative to that this Government is making right now. But out the other side of their mouths they are willing to steal from those future generations breathable air clean water and a stable climate just to kick the can further down the road. And at what cost? [Interruption] When do the excuses run out Mr Bennett? It has been 38 years since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and last year during the reading of the zero carbon amendment on the same Climate Change Response Act that we are amending today the now leader of the National Party Todd Muller heckled me for pointing out the disconnection between this House and the lives of those that we are making decisions about right now. My response is well documented.The kids born alongside the Climate Change Response Act 2002 are this year celebrating their 18th birthday. Many of them have marched in the streets in their tens of thousands calling for stronger climate action for a stable and predictable future. And now they have a vote and they will shape our democracy. And they are watching."