Eckhoff Gerrard: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Eckhoff Gerrard: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:611;Page:8396] 
7.  
GERRARD ECKHOFF (ACT NZ) 
 to the  
Convenor Ministerial Group on Climate Change 
: Of the 20 or so meetings that Federated Farmers have organised to enable members of Parliament to explain and be questioned about the Government’s proposed greenhouse gas emissions levy on agriculture how many has the Prime Minister attended and if none why has the Prime Minister not fronted up at these meetings? 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Convenor Ministerial Group on Climate Change) 
: 
 I am advised that the Prime Minister has received only one invitation—from the Northland branch of Federated Farmers which branch she has already met with before. 
Gerrard Eckhoff 
: Are the farmers of this country to understand that the Prime Minister is willing to climb every mountain visit any war memorial and visit any cooling-oil distributor but she is not willing to front up to the producers of the wealth that she redistributes to her supporters? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The Prime Minister fronts up to the farmers of New Zealand as she fronts up to every other sector of New Zealand on a full-time basis. 
Jill Pettis 
: How many public meetings did the Government arrange for consultation on its preferred climate change policies and what level of participation was there from farmers? 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This supplementary question illustrates the problem. The question is now asked quite widely to the whole Government and any Minister whereas the question was put down to the Prime Minister about her diary. What the Government organised and which lackeys it sent along instead of the Prime Minister is a question the Government should put down under its questions. The question the ACT party put down asked why the Prime Minister does not front up. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: On this occasion the member is quite correct. This question cannot be allowed because it is far too wide. If members are to put down questions and transfer them they have to be careful about the supplementaries. 
Hon David Carter 
: Has the Prime Minister or any Government officials held recent discussions with SheepCo Meat New Zealand and/or Fonterra about their contributing to the agricultural greenhouse gas emissions research out of existing research levies; if so what is the outcome of those discussions? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The Primary Industries Council which embraces all the bodies that the member mentioned and a whole lot of others besides and the Government put out a press statement to say that they had begun talks yesterday. I invite the member to keep an eye on the media. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Noting that it takes two parties to achieve genuine consultation and negotiation has the Prime Minister been disappointed at the level of engagement by leaders of the farming industry last year when the policy was being developed? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The Prime Minister may be disappointed; I am not sure but I know that I am. During last year consultation on the preferred climate change policies was held during the course of 49 meetings 11 of which were specifically aimed at the farming and forestry sectors. The level of participation was disappointingly low. 
Jill Pettis 
: Has he received any reports of original climate change policy ideas being presented at Federated Farmers meetings? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Yes I most certainly have. One stunningly original idea was that New Zealand could both withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol and give forest owners Kyoto forest sink credits. This suggestion came from the ACT party MP Gerrard Eckhoff. 
Hon David Carter 
: Why did the Minister allow his Government to ever embark on the flatulence tax debacle when today he signals that it intends to “back up”? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The Government’s preferred policy position was is and will be that farming or the farming industries come forward with a research programme. To date they have not. They may do yet. 
Gerrard Eckhoff 
: Why will the Prime Minister not direct her Government to release carbon credits appropriated from farmers to fund methane emission research as the Government has already done for the State-owned enterprise Meridian Energy for energy research projects and make these credits available to the farming community to fund this dopey research if the Government deems it absolutely necessary? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The Government’s policy on projects does not include research. The Government’s commitment to research is best signified by the fact that we spend about $25 million a year on climate change research of which about $4.5 million is spent on methane mitigation. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Could the Minister elaborate on his claim that the Prime Minister was invited to only one meeting? Is the Minister saying that the Prime Minister of New Zealand did not know what every other MP knew—that the farmers were coming to Parliament today and that they were going to make a presentation at the steps of Parliament; and is that the reason that she chose to go to an oil distribution factory in Auckland instead of being here and fronting up to the producers of the wealth of this country? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I have no idea whether the Prime Minister of New Zealand was invited to such a function. But I do know that as the Convenor Ministerial Group on Climate Change I was invited to a function only 48 hours ago. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I invite you to reconsider the ruling that you gave earlier. A Minister has now been asked a supplementary question which you allowed and which you said was a correct supplementary question and the answer that has come up is that the Minister has no idea. Well how on earth can the Government get away with a situation that the Prime Minister can now transfer a question to the Convenor Ministerial Group on Climate Change and it can be ruled as a satisfactory answer for the Minister to get up and say “I have no idea”? The question should never have been transferred in the first place. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I will have a look at that—the member has invited me to do so.