Shirley Ken: General Debates 
Shirley Ken: General Debates 
[Volume:611;Page:8132] 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (Deputy Leader—ACT NZ) 
: 
 I say at the outset that the ACT party is the only party in Parliament that says unequivocally at this time that it will withdraw New Zealand’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. The previous National Government should not have signed it in 1997 and the Labour Government should not have ratified it last year. In 1997 it was clear that the Kyoto Protocol was failing but by 2002 when it was ratified it was clear that it was fundamentally flawed. It will never work. It is not in effect yet. If Russia does not sign the Kyoto Protocol it will not come into effect but it will certainly damage the New Zealand economy. We have the spectre of farmers all over the country finally realising how nonsensical the Kyoto Protocol is. We are the laughing stock of the world. Members should go into the websites and read the foreign magazines. They are laughing like drains at New Zealand for implementing a “fart tax”. That is ridiculous but it is what this Government has done. 
I want to reveal a bigger issue here today. It is a scandal a scam and a distortion. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Is the member talking about Rodney Hide’s income? 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: Mr Mallard and his Cabinet are responsible for this scam. I will run it by the House now. The scam is that this Government stripped away the carbon credits from the forest industry of New Zealand. If we were to have an economic instrument to make the Kyoto Protocol work then we had to leave the incentives where they were. Since that property right was confiscated—nationalised by this Government—there have been virtually no new forests planted in this country. Investment in forestry has dried up. Should we be surprised at that? The Government stripped away those carbon credits and—I assure members that this is how nutty the Kyoto Protocol is—the carbon credits are actually worth more than the wood. It works out at $20000 a hectare of carbon credit value—a nominal value stripped away and confiscated by the Government. 
But what did the Government do? This is the scandal and I ask Government members to pay attention to this. In May the Government gave carbon credits to Meridian Energy a State-owned enterprise that the Government owns—a major generator. Why did it give Meridian Energy carbon credits? It was to invest in the Te Apiti wind farm in the Tararuas. Why was that? It was because wind farms cannot foot it. At a baseload pricing of about 10c to 12c they are not economic so they can be effective only if they are subsidised. That is nonsense in itself but the Government did that. It appropriated the property rights from the forestry sector on the one hand and on the other hand gave them to Meridian Energy its own State-owned enterprise that it owns. 
Here is the scam in the scandal. What did Meridian Energy do with the property rights? Do members want to know? On 15 August Meridian Energy sold them to the Dutch Government. I have the papers here. The State-owned enterprise Meridian Energy did that. The Government confiscated the property rights from the forestry owners earlier in May encouraged Meridian Energy to invest in wind farms subsidised it to do that and then gave it the carbon credits and what has Meridian Energy done with them? On 15 August the State-owned enterprise sold them to the Dutch Government. So the Government will get the money back as a State-owned enterprise dividend. That is theft. This Government has stolen a property right thereby distorting the market and causing forestry investment to dry up and Meridian Energy sold that right on to the Dutch Government. Did Harry have something to do with this perhaps—the Harry who flies under two flags? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I draw the member’s attention to Speaker’s ruling 6/1 (Supplement). The member must not refer to members by their first names. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: The Hon Mr Duynhoven is a Minister of this Government who has signed allegiance to the Dutch Government—and somehow this Government sold a property right one that it had appropriated and stolen to the Dutch Government. That is extraordinary. The Government will get the money back as a dividend from the State-owned enterprise. It is little wonder that the Government does not like the private sector to generate energy. 
The point has already been made in this debate that this Government is introducing new taxes everywhere. This is another way that it can claw money for more State control so that it can throw money at all its little pet social engineering programmes—Maori television—and everywhere else. The Government will grab money from the production sector drive it into the ground and give the money away to the non-productive sector.