Parata Hekia: Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Parata Hekia: Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:8057. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker Barker. Tena tatou e te Whare. The Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill was always about fulfilling New Zealand’s international environmental and domestic obligations in a fair and balanced manner and I am glad to speak in the third reading of this bill because that is what it will achieve. From an international perspective this legislation will enable the Government to head to Copenhagen in a few weeks’ time with a substantive framework to curb emissions and to show that New Zealand is prepared and committed to do our fair share in the fight against climate change. Indeed this National-led Government will ensure that New Zealand stands with our international friends and neighbours as progress is made on this most significant of issues. 
I agree that we should be standing with our neighbours but we need not march out ahead on our own. To do so would not make any practical improvements towards the goal of combating climate change. It may allow our Government representatives to attend future conferences with a slight feeling of moral superiority which is a landscape the Opposition was most addicted to when in Government but that feeling would have been built on the back of failing businesses a struggling economy and job losses. That is why we stand side by side with our partners and why we are aligning ourselves more closely with Australia. 
As I have said this bill ensures that we do our fair share for climate change while balancing our international and environmental obligations with our domestic responsibilities. This is what New Zealanders said on 8 November last year that they wanted and this is what the National-led Government will deliver. 
This is very important legislation and the changes that National supports are designed to assist the transition into the scheme for those most affected by the changes. By extending entry dates and increasing allocations this bill is helping to cushion the transition for existing industries and their related consumers so that they can continue to hire workers and contribute to our recovering and strengthening economy. Again from an environmental perspective these industry and worker-friendly amendments will not negatively impact the global issue of climate change at all in practical terms but they will make a big difference to thousands of New Zealanders who represent the backbone of this country’s economy the agriculture fisheries and energy sectors among them. Those in the agriculture sector at least will sleep a little better knowing that when this bill passes its third reading they will now have until 2015 to prepare for their involvement in the scheme. The agricultural sector is to New Zealand what the mining industry is to Australia and we need to ensure more than ever in the current economic conditions that we allow this sector to continue to thrive. 
There has been a tight timetable for the progress of this bill but as the Hon Nick Smith pointed out it was not only the upcoming Copenhagen talks that called for timeliness but also the fact that under the previous administration’s scheme which currently stands consumers and businesses were about to unwrap a $400 million bill for Christmas including a 10 percent rise in power prices due to changes that come into effect on 1 January. That is not what New Zealand’s businesses and families need; in fact it is not what many families can handle right now. There are signs that the worst of the economic crisis is over but the effects are still being felt and will continue to be felt for a long time. The existing legislation is not what New Zealanders want and they said so at our general election after John Key openly proposed a moderated emissions trading scheme that acknowledged the hardships that Kiwi workers families and businesses are facing. 
This issue is all about sustainability. It is a buzzword that has been bandied about liberally and with good reason but it has been overlooked in its wider application to climate change response. Policies need to achieve the goal of creating a sustainable world to live in now and for future generations but these policies themselves need to be implemented in a way that is also politically and economically sustainable. Although the previous Government’s emissions trading scheme put many measures in place towards this goal it was a fundamentally unsustainable response because the balance was wrong. The legislation was out of touch with the people in my communities of Ruatoria and Porirua who are already struggling to pay their escalating power bills. It also placed too many impositions on sectors of the economy that felt they were not being given enough time to come to terms with the new environment and the costs that were being demanded. To make sure that the scheme is achieving its goals in the future there will be 5-yearly reviews to ensure that we really are dealing with a sustainable climate change response. Although we will never please everybody I am confident that this bill will remedy and address many of the inadequacies of the current scheme and take us forward in a sustainable manner to a sustainable future. 
The Treaty was signed by hapu and iwi and it protected their right to manage their lands forests fisheries and other taonga. This bill provides that opportunity. The Treaty created this population of people called Maori and said that they should have the gift of citizenship. The quality of that citizenship has not been all that it should have or could have been but the opportunity to get and keep jobs because we have a strong and growing economy and to have access to warmer drier homes are all elements that contribute to a better-quality citizenship. This bill provides for that. The Treaty provided that there would be a Government that would govern for all and balance interests for the benefit of all. This bill reflects that. 
In the end this comes down to whether one philosophically believes in perpetual dependence on the State or the creation of wealth so that all are better off through the development of their own resources. I choose the latter. I commend the Maori Party for making the same choice for believing in iwi and their rights and aspirations to grow their own resources for understanding and supporting the downstream opportunities for whanau and for seeing the balance that has to be struck between the environmental and economic interests of our country—our nation of Aotearoa New Zealand. I acknowledge and thank the Minister for Climate Change Issues the Hon Nick Smith and our colleagues in the Maori Party. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou. I commend this bill to the House.