Russell DeborahDr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour—New Lynn): This is a short short bill; just five pages. It's simple; it expresses some really simple ideas. It is short it is simple—it is huge. It is a huge bill because it is a bill about keeping promises about keeping promises and commitments to ourselves to our children and to our children's children to leave them a better world. That is what this bill is about. We are keeping the promise we have made to take climate change seriously to take action with respect to climate change to make a start on dealing with the nuclear-free moment of our time: climate change.You see the problem of climate change is real. It is absolutely real and it is imminent. In a study which was written about in The Guardian just this week we found repeating science that has been peer-reviewed and published in a journal that talks about the likely outcomes from climate models and the really wretched thing is we are on track for 3.4 percent warming by 2100 if we do not change our ways. We are burning our world up and the people on that side of the House want to keep on doing it. They should be ashamed of themselves. Climate change is real it's happening and we need to make a start on addressing it and that is what this bill does.I guess the only thing is it is the smallest of steps but it is a start. All it is doing is saying that we will not issue more exploration permits—we will not issue more. The existing permits remain in place—an area the size of the North Island remains available for exploration offshore. We can continue to do onshore exploration in Taranaki. So there is real continuation for business. Business has plenty of time to plan business has plenty of time to restructure and this caring Government on this side of the House is in there helping to them to do it. It will walk with the people of Taranaki and with the people in the industry to ensure that they are able to transition to new jobs new employment and new ways of earning a living but what we will not continue to do is burn the world up.We are serious about our just transition and I can tell you why: we remember the 1980s and the 1990s when there was a shocking transition forced upon in particular the rural sector where there were suicides where people lost jobs overnight and where the changes were absolutely wretched. So this Government has given a long clear signal well in advance—plenty of time to plan plenty of time to make those transitions and we're in there supporting it on the way. That's what our Provincial Growth Fund is about. It is what our Green Investment Fund is about. It is about making that just transition to give people time and we have consulted widely about that just transition. Part of our major plan with respect to this bill is to consult widely about how we engage in that just transition exactly what we can do to help people how we help people to manage. We are committed to that and we will continue to be committed to it.As for the fossilised arguments from the other side of the House—the fossilised arguments—the demanded ongoing commitment to fossil fuels it's extraordinary how committed they are to drill baby drill".Let's talk about some of the claims—the claims that perhaps we should be pursuing natural gas. Look one of the reasons why the rest of the world pursues natural gas is that it's less bad than coal. It's not good; it's just less bad than coal. Of course the fossil fuel industry wants to persist with natural gas but let's look at what respected business commentator Rod Oram has said. Respected business commentator Rod Oram says "our gas sector keeps doubling down on its claims it can help us and other countries drastically cut carbon emissions in the decades ahead while deriving great GDP benefits on the way." and then he goes on to say "None of those claims stack up on economic or environmental grounds." That's what Rod Oram tells us and he has a detailed analysis showing how none of those claims stack up. So yes natural gas is part of a transition to a zero-carbon world but that's all it is and it's there because it is less bad than coal. It can help us on the transition but it is not the end product and it's not where we want to end up. We've got some worries. We do have ongoing use of gas. We will continue to be committed to using gas because it is there and it is available to us but we are simply shutting down the exploration of this.One of the things I really want to challenge the Opposition benches on is just on how blue-green they really are. You know the Opposition have been telling us and telling the people of New Zealand that they are committed to the environment that they want to take action with respect to climate change and that we should consider voting for them because after all they will look after the environment too. Where is the evidence? This first simple step—they cannot even go that far. I say that calling themselves blue-green is an utter charade and they should just stick to their knitting and promote "Business business business; drill drill drill—we don't care about the future."We've heard from the Opposition that we are not running a decent process. I tell you I will run the best select committee process I can. It will be open we will consult widely and we will take as many submissions as we can get. We will hear from them all we will take them seriously and we will take them seriously from all parts of the community from people who are committed to the environment to people who are part of the fossil fuel industry. We want to hear from them all and I invite those people to please send their submissions in. We want to hear from them and we will respond to them sincerely honestly and openly because that's kind of select committee I run. As part of that Ministers will be meeting with people in Taranaki; our Prime Minister will visit Taranaki. We are committed to consulting widely and making sure that we run a decent process.Just to bring to a close my speech on this insightful excellent piece of legislation presented to us by a Minister who cares I just want to go back to something that the previous speaker Jonathan Young said. He said that on this side of the House we have a systematic disregard for people. He accused us—this side of the House; a caring Government that generally sets out to help people and is committed to kindness—of a systematic disregard for people. I say again: the party in this House which has a systematic disregard of people is the party that wants to burn the Earth. I reject those arguments and I support this bill."