Sio William: Climate Change Response (Removal of Transitional Measure) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSio William: 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:11388. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): It used to be that this country of ours used to look forward to Budget day. Both business and the workforce would look forward to it in the hopes that Budget day would somehow give them hope to achieve some of their own individual goals. But today was not such a day. I think the last day that people sort of had hope on Budget day was when the words were uttered in this House of the promise made by Mr Key—Scott Simpson: A decade of deficits.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: No—of a brighter future. The words were uttered about 8 years ago that New Zealanders would have a brighter future. We have fallen away from the track of that brighter future—so far away that it is just not laughable any more. I agree with some of my colleagues who have spoken that it is time for New Zealanders to start thinking about changing this Government; that things will only get better if there is a change of Government.You know it also used to be that on nights such as this the Government would be producing legislation under urgency that would implement something significant in that particular Budget. But tonight we have got only two pieces of legislation. There is this one here the Climate Change Response (Removal of Transitional Measure) Amendment Bill and this one does not take effect until 2017. I do not know why we have not had the benefit of forwarding this piece of legislation to our select committee process—a select committee process that is admired worldwide.Climate change is an international issue. It is a global crisis in which I do not believe that the information the intelligence or the knowledge that is required for us to find the right solution for us to move forward on this is found in this House least of all in that bunch over there. And so I would have thought that this Government would take the opportunity to send this piece of legislation to a select committee after the first reading and ensure that New Zealand as widely as possible had the opportunity to make submissions on it. But alas that is not the case. I do not know why we prolong this particular debate. It simply reduces—Paul Foster-Bell: Well don’t then.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: Well we are going to try to drag this out for as long as we can to punish that group there for not taking seriously the issues that New Zealand wanted to hear them fix tonight. That is not what happened tonight.I do want to come back and acknowledge the Minister for Climate Change Issues because as baby a step as this is it is an important step and the Labour Party is supporting it. And in fact by acknowledging the mistake that they made in 2009 it also puts in a bad light Mr Key the Hon Simon Bridges and that other fulla who is no longer a member of Parliament who went to the Paris meeting last year. They went to that meeting with all of our hopes and aspirations and we were thinking that they were going to come back and make a real commitment—real commitment—to the Paris agreement. This is all we get—this baby step.I want to challenge the Minister: this is your time. This is your time to take over the reins from Mr Key. This is your time to present a comprehensive plan about how we take seriously the issue of climate change. We are not immune from what is happening. She said earlier in her first reading speech that the Government introduced the temporary measure in 2009 because it did not want to see farmers hurt. Nobody wants to see farmers hurt. But she needs to take seriously that the issue here is about reducing significantly the fossil fuel emissions that we emit and sending a signal to the rest of the world that we are serious.The fact of the matter is this baby step suggests that she is going to do as little as possible with regard to our commitments to the Paris agreement because she knows that none of that matters until 2020. She knows that it is on a voluntary basis. She knows that as long as the Government kowtows to business and to the fossil fuel industry it will continue to receive the support that it has so far received in being elected for the past 8 years. But it does not resolve the issue that if we want to be able to position New Zealand in a far better position and reclaim our brand of a clean greener New Zealand then we have got to come up with much more than simply this.We have got to come up with a comprehensive plan—a plan that is going to reduce our fossil fuel emissions significantly a plan that is going to encourage innovation and encourage investment in cleaner fuel and a plan that is going to transition business into the kind of workforce that we need to ensure that we meet our international obligations. It is much more than just doing the right thing for the rest of the world. We have also got to do the right thing for our own country.Twice now this House has been presented with reports by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. In those last two reports this House should take note of how seriously she points out that we are now under threat from coastal erosion and that local governments around the coast of New Zealand are in fear of the kinds of costs that they are going to have to bear. This little action here actually increases that. It increases the threat that we have to face. It increases the threat that businesses have to face. It increases the threat that our workforce has to face. And so far we just seem to be thinking that this is going to be all right. It is not all right. It is not all right.The Minister might laugh when I say that it is her time. But I genuinely believe that. I genuinely believe that this is her time provided that she is genuine about going further than what is presented tonight. We are here to pass this legislation under urgency—and I agree with Grant Robertson that it almost appears as if we are trying to fool the rest of the country by appearing to be busy by appearing to do something because the Budget was lacklustre and did not address any of the significant crises that this country of ours faces. So I would encourage the Minister: look if you have taken this baby step go further. Take a giant leap. Take a giant leap and do the right thing. Come up with a comprehensive plan a plan where we encourage all of the great minds of this country to participate in formulating a plan that shows that we take seriously climate change we take seriously the impact of coastal erosions on our own country we take seriously also our obligation to stand in solidarity with the Pacific.The Pacific countries have said time and time again in the international arena that they are the canary in the tunnel. They are forewarning us of what is coming. What is happening to them is going to happen to us and so far we just seem to think that that is so far off. Islands are now underwater—as stated in the report that was released from Australia a couple of weeks back. Islands are underwater. More and more of those people living in the outer islands in the Pacific are moving into the main islands putting pressure on already pressured resources. Similarly we are going to have to decide what we do what our role is when those main islands come under threat. What do we do? Surely this Government can begin to think long term and come up with a comprehensive plan that realises how important this issue is for us and for the rest of the world.