Dean Jacqui: Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill — In Committee 
Dean Jacqui: Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:649;Page:18156] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Otago) 
: 
 The only incentive this emissions trading scheme bill provides to the agricultural sector is to go out and shoot the cows. That was said almost a year ago by members of the agricultural sector when they first learnt of the provisions contained in this bill and I believe that that sentiment is still true and still holds today. The only way that members of our agricultural sector can deal with the bill is to simply go out and put a bullet in the head of their livestock. Agriculture is New Zealand’s primary export earner. This bill is the most significant legislation to pass through this House in my short time in Parliament. It has huge implications for my own electorate of Otago and for Waitaki and I strongly object to the provisions for agriculture. 
I believe that the Minister sitting in the chair David Parker referred to other emissions trading schemes throughout the world. We know that the European Union excluded agriculture from its first emissions trading scheme. I believe that it is considering placing some form of control on agriculture but it is in the form of science; it is not in the form of a punitive taxation regime that provides no incentive at all to the agriculture sector. All that the regime does is provide a crushing view of the future. 
I bring to the Minister’s attention with reference to his attacking my colleague David Carter the National spokesperson on agriculture—perhaps the Minister should have spoken to his colleagues who sat on the select committee—page 67 of the bill’s commentary where it says: “Hon David Carter replaced Craig Foss for this item of business.” So I tell the Minister to keep up to speed—I think it would be helpful. 
National does not believe that the agricultural sector can be—nor should it be—excluded from this emissions trading scheme bill but it does have a unique place in the world. New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are unique in that 50 percent of them come from agriculture. That is why it is so terribly important that we get this legislation right in terms of agriculture. A scheme that merely crudely imposes average costs on farmers regardless of their farm management decisions will achieve nothing other than to encourage farmers to reduce their stock numbers. 
The answers lie in the science. I refer to an article written by Mark Aspin who is the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium manager. This consortium has been put together by Fonterra Meat and Wool New Zealand Dairy New Zealand PGG Wrightson the Fertiliser Manufacturers Research Association DEEResearch AgResearch and the Ravensdown Fertiliser Cooperative. They are actually doing the work; they are doing the science. They note that “Through the Consortium we aim to develop solutions that will ensure a sustainable future both nationally and internationally. Our programme uses modern science to answer complex biological questions that are at the heart of efficient sustainable farming systems.” There is the future. There is the answer for agriculture. It lies in the science; it does not lie in the punitive regime outlined in this bill. The consortium goes on to say that “The Consortium’s work programme is necessarily broad as it is not yet clear which areas will provide the necessary breakthroughs that will enable dairy farmers to continue to be competitive in the increasingly carbon conscious world.” 
That is the way to go. National commits to working with the agricultural sector rather than having this absolutely punitive taxation-based part of the emissions trading scheme. The work contains three broad areas. One is measuring methanogens which are rumen microbes—and my colleagues have much greater knowledge of this field. None the less that is the work that is being undertaken and that is the work that needs to be done. It includes selective breeding.