Little Andrew: Sustainable Biofuel Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Little Andrew: Sustainable Biofuel Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 04 April 2012. Volume:679;Page:1691. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ANDREW LITTLE (Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to be standing and speaking in support of the Sustainable Biofuel Bill. It is disappointing that irrespective of the time that this bill has had to take to get to this point it lacks the support of the Government. What is most disappointing is just how visionless and lacking in foresight the speeches from the Government members have been this afternoon and tonight. The thing is this: as somebody who comes from the capital of fossil fuels and oil and gas in Taranaki and who has worked closely with many of the workers who work in that industry and understanding the importance of that industry to our economy today the truth is that our economy like the world economy is in transition. We are in transition because we have to be moving from the oil-dominant fossil fuel - dominant world to a world where our sources of energy are going to have to be renewable.  
What this bill offered—or still offers if there is any chance of a change of heart—is not only the chance of a source of energy of biofuels but also a biofuels market that is sustainable that is durable and that has a long term. I do not think there is anybody who looks at this bill and the circumstances we are in at the moment and thinks it is perfect or that the solution that it offers up is perfect but it is a start. It is a very important start—some might say a continuation actually of work that the previous Labour Government had started—to help us with that transition.  
What is so disappointing is when you hear the speeches that say: “This won’t make a difference. We will just stick with what we’ve got. We don’t have to do anything.” because we cannot continue to put our heads in the sand. We have to look out not 5 years but 15 20 30-plus years because that is going to be the future that those generations who come after us will have to face. We are failing in our responsibilities as today’s leaders—community leaders—if we are not looking forward and confronting those challenges and preparing the way for the next generation to actually come up with some meaningful solutions. And this bill addressing one of the most severe challenges of the modern world and the modern economy which is about the future sources of fuels is absolutely critical.  
We are moving from the old economy. We are moving to the new economy. There are those who say: “Listen we will never run out of oil.” and it is probably true to say—almost certainly true to say—that there are plenty of oil deposits around the world but the truth is they are getting harder and harder to exploit. The measure that is most important is the return on energy invested. The energy taken to exploit existing predicted or projected fossil fuel sources is going to be greater and greater so that the real return is less.  
What promoting and encouraging a market for biofuels does is start to provide us with the alternative. It starts to establish that market. It starts to create an environment in which investment is encouraged promoted and ultimately incentivised. That is the role of the Government. It is the Government that can use its power its resources its knowledge and its information to look ahead multiple generations and to look ahead in the long term in a way that business certainly big business is being proven to be so incapable of doing. Business might be very good at looking at investment opportunities that will generate a return in the short term but it is notoriously bad at looking at the extraordinary long-term investment horizons. The Government must play that role. When it comes to sources of energy and when it comes to sources of fuel then the Government has a critical role to play in that.  
Labour has started. Labour started a very good programme with its biofuels programme and in supporting the biofuels industry. It played a role in starting and creating the opportunity to establish that market. This Government so tragically and regrettably shortly after it was elected took urgency to essentially scuttle that market. The prospect of investment in a new plant in the Bay of Plenty a 60 million - litre biodiesel plant is gone because this Government lacks the foresight and the vision to understand what those challenges will be in 20 or 30 years’ time.  
We need to support that industry. As I say this may not be the perfect solution but it is a start. It is a start to getting that investment in place and a start to creating the industry and the jobs of the future because that is fundamental too. Who wants in 30 years’ time when the next generation of leaders—young leaders and community leaders now—are grappling with the issue of sustainable sources of fuel for them to look back and say that we had that opportunity? We had that opportunity which the Labour Government took in its last term and which was abandoned by this Government—the opportunity that this House has in 2012 to meet that challenge. They will look back on that in 30 years’ time and say that we had that opportunity and we let them down. Well that is not a result that I particularly relish living with. If we are responsible and if we are forward thinking then we will accept that actually this bill offers something very important to the future of New Zealand.  
So I celebrate and I acknowledge the great work of those who have started this legislation: Jeanette Fitzsimons the Green Party members and the Labour members who have sat on the Local Government and Environment Committee and heard the submissions including from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment who raised issues of practicality not issues of principle. I acknowledge and celebrate the work of those people and say at the very least let us respect that and let us look seriously at the measures that this bill puts up which are about encouraging a step towards the future. It is a future that will get harder and harder if we fail to grapple with these problems.  
We need to be honest with those who are in the fossil fuels exploitation industry today—not only those who are making the investments who are looking for a return straight away and a return ongoing for many years but also those who are working in the industry—and start saying that we need to make this change. It is legislation like this that paves the way that assists us and that meets that important challenge for the future. So we need to support and take whatever steps we can to support the emerging biofuel industry.  
The real impact of the abdication that this Government has taken in relation to this industry the abandonment of its support for it and its refusal to pass this legislation is that it misses the opportunity for a whole new area of investment that is so crucial to this country and to its future. We could be world leaders. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Acknowledge the Bay of Plenty. 
ANDREW LITTLE 
: The Bay of Plenty which has a representative in this House could be a leader. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: What does Simon Bridges say about it? 
ANDREW LITTLE 
: What does Simon Bridges say? The rising star of the National Party has more at stake in this legislation than just about anyone but he is willing to sit with his colleagues and abandon it. That is the shame of it and that is the disappointment of it. It is so disappointing. We will look back on this moment and Mr Bridges will look back on this moment some years hence and he will kick himself—he will possibly do even more than that—and say he should have done more. The challenge for him is whether he will stare in the face those who will be let down by this and those who will be deprived or short-changed by our failure to pass this legislation. Will he stand and look them in the face and say: “I could have done better; I should have done better.”?  
It is not too late. It is not too late for the members on that side of the House to say that this is worthwhile. It is a drop in the ocean but it is a start as we pave our way to a less fossil fuel - dominant world which is so important.