Smith Nick: Estimates Debate —  
Smith Nick: Estimates Debate —  
[Volume:610;Page:7204] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (NZ National—Nelson) 
: 
 I want to challenge the Minister in the chair the Hon Jim Sutton on a series of porkies that have been given by the Government in respect of the issue of climate change. We have seen— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: No I am sorry but that term has been ruled out. Would the member please stand withdraw and apologise. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I withdraw and apologise. It is unusual to rule that out when we are dealing with agriculture—and pork. But I want to put some serious questions to the Minister of Agriculture. 
Firstly I want to ask how the Minister can stand up in the Chamber today and tell the very competent Hon David Carter that the Government has never proposed the “fart tax.” Well I say to Mr Sutton that he would be the only person in New Zealand who believes that he has not done just that. So I ask him to explain that when we have all the talk about it. Whether members want to call that tax by the flash name of an “animal emissions levy” or the like for New Zealanders it is a “fart tax” and it is a stupid tax. 
The second thing I want to challenge Mr Sutton on is that he told Parliament today that there is a global crisis over climate change. I have been to four of the conventions and discussions on climate change going all the way back to 1992 and the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and I say the Minister is the only person who is saying there is a crisis. Climate change is a very slow long-term issue. There are significant uncertainties over the science and I tell the Minister that he is just talking rubbish when he says that there is a global crisis. 
Then Mr Sutton told Parliament today that he is not nationalising the forestry credits. Well that is not what his officials are saying. I went to the consultative meeting in Christchurch which was about exactly what the Minister is doing and I ask what the Minister is doing if he is not nationalising the forestry credits and taking the credits for the Government against the commitments given by previous Ministers notably Simon Upton in terms of the Kyoto agreement. So I ask the Minister how he can honestly say to this Parliament that he is not nationalising the credits from forestry when everybody knows that he is. 
Then we have what I thought was one of the great daddies of them all. That was the Minister saying that the Government had a duty to provide a stable climate. That is a rather grand statement. I have looked at the issue of climate change in the world over the last 2000 years and have seen there have been periods in the last mini - ice age when temperatures were 2 or 3 degrees lower than they are at present. We know there were times in the 1200s when we had a warm period and temperatures were 2 or 3 degrees higher than at present. What does the Minister believe about this Government that means he can suddenly change the climate trends of hundreds of years and can be like the king who stopped the tide—that Jim Sutton can stop the climate-change trend and guarantee farmers a stable climate? I say that he is kidding himself. 
I now want to challenge the Minister on another point and this was one of the most appalling cons that I have seen. When we went to the farmers’ consultation meetings on the “fart tax” the officials had the gall to say to farmers that they were not there to consult them about whether the farmers had to pay the tax; the officials said they were only there to consult farmers about how to collect it. What sort of a farce is that in terms of a consultation process? I want to know from the Minister whether that was what he told his officials to consult farmers on. Did this Minister tell farmers they were to get the “fart tax” like it or not and the only thing the Government wanted to talk about was how to collect it? What sort of a fiasco is that sort of consultation process? 
Let me make it plain to this Committee that David Carter and Bill English have made an unequivocal commitment that the “fart tax” under National will go. I want the Minister— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: What a 3-year-old! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Does Trevor Mallard support the “fart tax”? He is pretty much into hot air so I suspect that he does. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: See you in court. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Oh we see. He does not want to talk about it does he? He does not want to stand up for free speech; he does not want to talk about the “fart tax” because it is an embarrassment to the Government. I ask Mr Mallard whether the Government will back down on the “fart tax.” I ask Mr Sutton whether he will back down on it because it is a silly tax. It makes New Zealand a laughing stock. I say to Government members that they should listen to the farming sector to David Carter and to our farming leaders. They should stop calling those people whingers because they are right when they say that tax is silly.