Mallard Trevor: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Mallard Trevor: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:795] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) 
: 
 The Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Biofuel Obligation Repeal Bill is probably the saddest thing that has occurred here and we have seen the National Party approach to it in the way its members are concerned about it: they are not even prepared to get up on their feet to take a call in order to be involved in the debate. What is very very clear to me is that National members have not spent their time getting their heads around this issue. They got themselves into a position probably cajoled by the oil companies’ position of a couple of years ago and lined up by Nick Smith trying to be pragmatic but in the end they have not logically reasoned through what is necessary in this particular area. 
People should think very carefully about the comments that David Parker made. I absolutely agree with him. We have a spectacular advantage in being a small isolated country and a country in which experiments can occur. We can be a leader and some of those experiments will be successful; we have to accept that some of them will not be successful. What has been made very very clear is that in the area of tallow the research work has been done the plant development work has been done and we will be in a position to meet the obligations under this bill from July given what had occurred. 
I am very surprised that I have not yet heard Lindsay Tisch take a call in this debate. I think he needs to get up on his feet to say whether he thinks that jobs in his electorate are important. I know that if his opponent in the Waikato electorate Jacinda Ardern who made a brilliant maiden speech yesterday was the member for Waikato then she would be making some comments and she would be standing up for Waharoa. It is not a place where there are thousands of easy jobs to get. It is a rural area and a place where clearly there is quite a lot of dairy still going on but there is not a factory and not a lot of jobs in the area. 
Shane Ardern 
: Open Country Cheese is there. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Waharoa? OK I apologise. I have my little towns out in the east Waikato mixed up. But the point that I am making is— 
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: You probably closed a school there. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No I did not. I tell the member what I did: I had more guts than any National Party Minister. If I was closing a school I went there and I knew exactly where it was. I do apologise; I lived in Hamilton and I went through Waharoa occasionally. The point is that if I was the local member then I would have the backbone to stand up in this House and defend Waharoa against Gerry Brownlee who is stripping it of jobs. 
The decision of Gerry Brownlee and the National Party is to say that jobs in Waharoa do not matter. That is what he is saying. He is also saying to Tom McNicholl that he does not care that he is 75 years old. He does not care that he has put 10 years of investment into this project that he has lined it up following the international signals following the signals from Government and following the signals of what is possible. Tom McNicholl has done the right thing and National is to take $10 million from him. National members are going to cause him to mothball his $10 million investment—the $10 million investment that can make an enormous difference to New Zealand’s reputation. I just ask how the next time John Key meets Gordon Brown if it ever happens again he will be able to look him in the eye and say that he—Mr Key—not only is a climate change denier but also wants Mr Brown to take off his tax on people travelling to New Zealand. Not only is Mr Key denying climate change but also he is closing down plants that could make a difference. John Key is closing down a plant that could make a real difference to climate change in New Zealand—a $10 million plant; one that will employ over 40 people. It will make an enormous difference— 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: I bet it’s still there this time next year. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I bet it will still be there and it will be mothballed. It will not happen. I believe Sue Wood. I do not believe Gerry Brownlee; I believe Sue Wood. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Where are they selling the stuff now? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: They are selling it raw to China for methane-producing chickens. It goes to methane-producing chickens now or it could be used to cut fuel emissions in New Zealand. That is the choice. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: It’s the same outcome. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Gerry Brownlee says that eating a chicken is the same as driving a car. He probably does both. He probably has a chicken from KFC on the seat beside him. He probably cannot drive without that on the seat beside him. He looks like he cannot go anywhere without it. I tell members that it is a major pity that the member does not live in Wainuiomata. The Wainuiomata KFC has just closed. If Gerry Brownlee lived in Wainuiomata I am sure that not only would we be driving decent fuel but also KFC would have survived because it— 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: What came first—the chicken or the Gerry? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: We will not even get a “Gerry-can” of biofuel as a result of this bill. 
I go back to the point that I was making. How can New Zealand hold up its head internationally? How can we argue against the outrageous things that—I agree—the Brits are planning to do? I do not think it is on for John Key to call Gordon Brown a hypocrite as he did in the House yesterday. I think that is not conducive to good diplomatic relations. It is not conducive to good diplomatic relations to call the British Prime Minister a hypocrite. It will not help John Key as Minister of Tourism to get the next meeting in an attempt to wind back—and I agree with our Prime Minister—Mr Brown’s misguided approach in the tourism area. 
National says that it cares about jobs. We are expecting later this week an enormous package from National; an enormous job stimulus package. I would just ask what those members are doing when in this area their policy is costing jobs in the forestry sector when their policy of throwing the emissions trading scheme to the wolves is costing jobs in the carbon market and now they are taking out jobs in the biofuel industry. I cannot think of anything much better than the existing legislation. It is a win-win. It means jobs for Kiwis and less money spent overseas on importing fuels which helps the balance of payments. It reduces our emissions and helps us with our Kyoto liabilities. I ask Government members what is wrong with any of that. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: I don’t think it was a donation from Shell. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well I think it does get to that in the end. However I say to Dr Cullen that I have driven up and down the North Island a couple of times in recent months and stopped at Bulls where there is now 10 percent biofuel in the higher octane petrol at the Mobil service station. I do not know where else it is happening around the country. It is not happening in my local area yet but I to say to members opposite that it is already happening. It is a good thing. It is a bit like a golden egg. Why kill the goose?