Bridges Simon: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBridges Simon: General Debate[Sitting date: 05 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:649. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Energy and Resources):It is always a pleasure following the member Phil Stoner Twyford although I must say I get disappointed with him. I thought he was one of the nice guys but to hear the ad hominem attacks from that member and having a series of Opposition questioners on the other side asking questions about personalities rather than policies shows parties in this Parliament are bereft of ideas. Well that is not the case on this side of the House.I do want to say this though.Phil Twyford: Don’t forget Simon you’ve been told to be nice not arrogant and conceited.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: That is right. I do want to say this though. Today it is a privilege to speak a day when we have had a serious debate and a series of speeches on a very significant set of issues for New Zealand and the world. Of course I think we can all agree that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a barbarous organisation that is having its effect in the Middle East and in Islamic countries but also in Western countries including New Zealand. We are not immune and we know—the Prime Minister gave a speech today on this matter—that ISIL has been successfully recruiting and working in New Zealand to further its evil aims.I just want to say while the Hon Annette King is in the House that I agree with her and what I thought was a very good speech from the Opposition there. She is absolutely right. This is a question of balance. It is a question of acting calmly and proportionally and that is exactly what the Prime Minister and this National-led Government have done. We have not overreacted. We do of course have a duty of responsibility to New Zealanders and that is why we are making proportionate law changes that will be in this House a little later this year—discreet legal changes to protect New Zealanders in a proportionate way.We are also then acting internationally. The only other speech I have given so far in this House since the election was on the day after we had been elected to the United Nations Security Council and I was actually really proud. The flag debate was kicking off and I was really proud to be part of a Government part of a country that is outward-looking that is confident and that is a responsible global corporate citizen in this world that we live in. The quid pro quo of that of course is that on occasions like this we have to step up and act in the interests of New Zealanders and also be good global corporate citizens.Because the question was asked in the House today I also want to talk about another serious issue facing this world of ours—climate change. I want to say quite clearly to the member that this is a party this is a Government that has a strategy and a plan and it is working hard on what is a serious issue in this country. We have a comprehensive emissions trading scheme. We accept—we all accept—that it is at a low price at the moment because of global conditions but there is a broad range of actions and initiatives that this Government is taking to deal with this issue not least in the portfolios I am privileged to hold. The point I really make to the members is that climate change is about much more—and climate change policy is about much more—than a price signal in the emissions trading scheme. That is why if we go through the things we are doing and we look at where the emissions are 47 or 48 percent—Phil Twyford: The price of carbon matters.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: —Phil Stoner Twyford—come from agriculture. That is an area where it is disruptive technology that will make the difference and that is why we in this country lead the Global Research Alliance on agricultural emissions to find a step change in that area.The rest of the emissions—nearly half of them—come from energy. That is why in the area of transport where I am Minister we are doing a lot of thinking about what we can do with our fleet and electric vehicles in some of these issues. That is why we have got a Heavy Vehicle Fuel Efficiency programme being rolled out which is making a difference. That is why we have increased that programme. That is also why in the energy sector we make sure that our policies—and this is a perverse thing about the left; their policies would actually set this back—are increasing renewables in this country year on year and why to the year to date we have 79 percent of renewables from our electricity system. We are third or fourth at the moment in the world and we will make 90 percent by 2025. I think that is something we should be very proud of.We have rolled out a number of other initiatives in that wider energy area—[Bell rung]—such as the renewable heat hub that I have been talking about—