Katene Rahui: Climate Change (Government Vehicle Procurement) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Katene Rahui: Climate Change (Government Vehicle Procurement) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 18 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:7815. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 The Maori Party has supported all previous legislation that seeks to address the duel crises of peak oil and climate change. Within this the Maori Party is committed to ensuring tangible outcomes in the national interest in respect of four areas. First and foremost we want to relieve the burdens placed on whanau and assist whanau to adapt to climate change. Secondly we seek to enhance environmental outcomes consistent with the kaitiakitanga that our people are responsible for discharging over their whenua. Thirdly we want to give effect to the Treaty relationship between the Crown and iwi/hapu. Fourthly we want to take actions that support the Maori economy. We apply these four principles to any interventions that seek to make changes that more broadly contribute to positive responses to climate change. 
So we come to the Climate Change (Government Vehicle Procurement) Bill recognising its very specific focus on targeting State sector organisations to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions by ensuring that when purchasing or leasing cars they meet the efficiency standard set out in the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy 2007. It is a very specific technical requirement that will demand that Government vehicles emit no more than 170 grams per kilometre of carbon dioxide and that they are among the top 10 percent in terms of fuel efficiency in their size class. 
The Maori Party has consistently argued the case for a host of fuel efficiency measures. We have made the commitment that we will investigate the case for reducing the speed limit to maximise fuel efficiency for fuel rationing systems and for the bulk purchasing of fuel-efficient vehicles to lease or sell to low-income earners at prices they can afford. These policy goals of the Maori Party are a specific and targeted approach to reduce the overall energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand’s transport system. 
This bill makes good sense. How many of us have had the misfortune to drive behind an old inefficient clapped-out vehicle as it emits huge clouds of paru into the environment? Older vehicles tend to have higher exhaust emissions of harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide hydrocarbons and the oxides of nitrogen. This is partly due to deterioration in the engine’s efficiency but is also due to the older technology used in earlier engine designs. As an example I say that an air quality study that sampled the emissions of 40000 vehicles in the Auckland region found that carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide emissions from a 2003 vehicle were approximately five times lower than the emissions from a similar vehicle 8 years older. That is pretty good proof to us that if we can do something about vehicle emissions then we should. Older vehicles may also have poorer fuel efficiency and therefore create more greenhouse gas emissions for each kilometre travelled than similar newer vehicles do. 
The justification for this bill is clear. Although the Maori Party firmly believes that collective responsibility for environmental and social outcomes is the only way to respond to climate change we say that legislation plays a big part in that. Sure we need to have education programmes in place and we need to encourage private enterprise to lower its greenhouse gas emissions profile but we also need to have the example set by the State sector. The State sector is governed by legislation. We have heard Ministers say time after time in this House that they cannot require this or that to be done because it is an operational matter which they cannot interfere in. In order to get State sector vehicles that have better fuel efficiency Ministers need to have legislation because they cannot tell their departments to purchase the more fuel-efficient vehicles. 
No one piece of legislation can ever be the whole answer to New Zealand’s response to climate change. The real answers can only come from people as whanau communities and enterprises deciding to change how we live and interact with the environment. This bill is only a small part of the change that is needed. But if we are really committed to focusing on the real challenge of addressing our collective responsibility for carbon emissions then what better place is there to start than with the State sector? If we want to set ourselves standards to live by and expectations to aspire towards then the Government through the means of the State sector example is the most appropriate place to start. Thank you.