Hutchison Paul: Urgent Debates — Emissions Trading Scheme—Government Announcement 
Hutchison Paul: Urgent Debates — Emissions Trading Scheme—Government Announcement 
[Volume:642;Page:12105] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Port Waikato) 
: 
 Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker for the opportunity to speak in this very important debate on climate change. I must agree with my colleague the Hon Dr Nick Smith who said that there is indeed a broad consensus with regard to the Government’s announcement of its emissions trading scheme. 
Right at the outset I acknowledge some of the outstanding contributions made by members of this House over the years. In that acknowledgment I include the Hon Simon Upton; the Hon Dr Nick Smith who of course has been a champion of this issue; and Jeannette Fitzsimons who has for years been a very visible figure in New Zealand regarding the issue of climate change. We may not necessarily agree with everything that Jeannette Fitzsimons has said or with the methods she has been keen to employ but nevertheless she has been a loud voice. 
The fact that there is a broad consensus gives us a lot of cause for optimism here in New Zealand. Although as both the Hon Bill English and Dr Cullen have pointed out there are technical difficulties associated with introducing a carbon emissions trading scheme undoubtedly this option is technically far superior to the other option of a carbon trading scheme. We must remember of course the Hon Pete Hodgson’s promise to New Zealand only 3 or 4 years ago that the Labour Government on ratifying the Kyoto Protocol would more or less be the recipient of a half-billion-dollar cheque for New Zealand. It is a very salutary lesson that the calculations now are that it will cost the New Zealand taxpayer in the order of $800 million to satisfy the conditions of that ratification. Nevertheless I think it was Dr Cullen who once again pointed out that there is still a degree of scepticism around the science. I think that most of the scientific community however has an overwhelming view that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are related to climate change. 
I have a very vivid spectre deeply impressed on my mind and that is the picture of Beijing that came across on TV the other day where cyclists traffic and pedestrians could hardly see their way through the streets 1 year out from the Olympic Games. The local authorities have been reducing the traffic substantially in order to reduce emissions and to see hopefully whether it would be feasible within that time to clear the air. It is not a very salutary thought to think that the Olympic Games could be held up because the contestants will have difficulty in contesting. There are examples of various asthmatics who are deeply worried about whether contesting will be possible. I think that is a very realistic vision of just how important it is that we get control of carbon emissions throughout the world. 
David Parker pointed out that moving 30 million people in Bangladesh would almost be an absolute human impossibility and here closer to us in the South Pacific we have countries such as Kiribati and the Tokelau Islands that could easily disappear under the sea if some of the worst predictions were fulfilled. 
One of the things that gives us hope is the fact that there is this broad consensus because inter-party collaboration is one of the ways through this. We know that whatever happens nothing will happen fast. Long-term planning and long-term research and development will be absolutely fundamental and to switch from one thing to another will be just totally unsatisfactory. It is important to get the basics right whether they are the economic tools in terms of emissions trading or whether they are the scientific research and development programmes to see whether we can improve the technologies. 
It is certainly in the technologies that again we have a great deal of hope. The other day David Parker unveiled the electric car at Waikato University. It will be taken to Australia to hopefully win a magnificent prize for the length and speed of distance that it can travel in that competition. That just shows the enormous gains we have had in electric car development over the last few years. One of the great things to my mind is the fact that electric cars are not only emission-free but noise-free. If one goes to places like parts of London— 
Shane Jones 
: The car needs to be shown to Mr David Bennett if it is noise free! 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Well maybe it does but there he was championing the car in Hamilton East and after all it is his electorate. Mr Jones will be glad to know that it was David Bennett who has been highly supportive of Waikato University developing that electric car. 
The last thing I want to mention is the importance of this debate for New Zealand’s agricultural sector. This time the Government quite rightly has been much more subtle about its approach to the agricultural sector which is so important to New Zealand—we are so dependent on it for our livelihood—after it made the extraordinary mistake some years ago of bringing out the “fart tax” then withdrawing from it. Hopefully the Government will have learnt its lesson. It is incredibly important that we work closely with the agricultural sector and it is incredibly important that we carry out the appropriate research and development of which New Zealand could take a leading part. We have very few ruminant physiologists and scientists in this country but the fact that we have more of these than there are elsewhere means that we have a leading start and that is one area we should be able to extend and take a leading role in. We should also be in a situation where we can use the existing technology such as nitrogen fixers which were developed by Lincoln University and the Ravensdown Fertiliser Cooperative. That is an excellent example of a combination between academics and industry. 
Finally the other issue we must be aware of is that of the carbon miles debate. Our farmers are producing goods much more efficiently than are farmers in Europe and it is very important that we continue to make sure that the rest of the world is aware of that. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.