Ardern JacindaRt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Thank you. I want to start today by acknowledging those who have worked so hard to get us to this place and to this moment and if I'm doing that I need to start no further than the Minister himself the Hon James Shaw. Many of you may not know that I've known James Shaw for a long time since we were both—I was going to say young people"; that would probably be an inaccuracy—people that were living in London where he and I were both candidates for our respective parties. I even remember then his clear determination on the issue of climate change at the point in time when there was no global consensus where there was still wide-reaching climate change denial and he has been absolutely unwavering since that moment right through to this process and for that Minister Shaw I acknowledge you and on behalf of this Parliament and New Zealand I thank you.I also want to acknowledge that there are many others—part of your movement but more broadly part of civil society and I can't help but acknowledge Kennedy Graham in this House today—who have been champions for so so long. But there is a generation we can also acknowledge that were it not for them we may not be in this place that we are today with this debate. I still remember as a candidate over 10 years ago being booed when I talked about climate change and I absolutely believe it's in no small part the work that the next generation have done to bring people with them and build consensus that means we are not having a debate any more about whether we should take action but about the speed and nature of the action—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Talk to the Parliament.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: —so I thank you. Actually Mr Brownlee I will talk to them because they deserve to hear us and be heard.But there is anxiety and I want to particularly acknowledge Generation Zero who have taught me more than probably anyone else that we have to hear the anxiety that young people feel when they see the consequences—the very real images—of climate change around them. Our job is to give them hope not just in words but in action and we also have to give certainty. This cannot be a three-year plan; it has to be a 30-year plan which is why we have in this House sought to build consensus. It is incredible. I have to acknowledge that we do at least have three parties in this House who are supporting this bill and I will not give up—I will not give up—on the aspiration of bringing even more with us still. But in doing so that consensus must be based on science—it must be based on science. So that is why one of the most important principles of this bill is that we are amongst some of the first countries in the world to embed 1.5 degrees Celsius into our legislation. Why? Because the science tells us that unless we commit to trying to keep warming below that level we are committing to our Pacific neighbours that we accept they will risk devastating impacts of climate change that we will lose cities and towns that we will lose flora and fauna. How can we look our Pacific neighbours in the eye unless we commit to the aspiration as a nation as a Pacific nation that we will not accept those devastating impacts on their behalf and nor will we tolerate it? So that is why 1.5 degrees Celsius is in the bill. Please everyone in this House needs to remember that that is one of the most critical commitments that we are making because it all flows from there. If we commit to 1.5 degrees Celsius what does that mean for our targets? Well the science tells us—and this is what Dave Frame would say—that unless you move on carbon then frankly nothing else matters. We have to make a difference on carbon. This is why we have moved to net zero on carbon.Now the member opposite the Leader of the Opposition who I acknowledge has said his party will vote for it at first reading—I thank the member for that goodwill. I thank the member for taking this to the select committee but what I did not hear was the alternative that they are proposing to what has been put before this House. I look forward to debating it but the only suggestion I heard was to put it to the Climate Change Commission. Two things on that: first of all some of the industries that that member likes to speak to frequently including our rural and agricultural sector actually wanted certainty rather than sending it to the Climate Change Commission so he may wish to take that on board.The second point is that my expectation would be that the Climate Change Commission—and we've given them this power to review our targets on an ongoing basis—would listen to the science. The only science that we have does not model on an individual New Zealand basis. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment did not produce a report at keeping warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Parliamentary Commissioner did a report on 2 degrees Celsius. So we do not actually have a basis on which to base our methane targets. The only thing that we have—science based evidence based—is actually the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They undertook modelling that included what nitrous oxide what methane would need to look like if we were aspiring for 1.5 degrees Celsius and what did it say on biogenic methane? What did it say? It said exactly what we put in this bill. It said you would need to set a target between 24 and 47 percent. We listened to the science and that is exactly what we need to be doing if we want to remove the politics from this conversation: listen to the science.Now I accept though that that individual modelling—some of the science just isn't where we would like it to be. We want to be more definitive but it is going to take time. That is why we are giving the Climate Change Commission criteria on which to review the targets that include looking at the most recent evidence base technological advancement and what the science is telling us. It is all built into the system we are trying to build to give certainty to build consensus and to give longevity to this piece of legislation. Mr Speaker the member opposite also—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Actually I'm "Madam Speaker". Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Oh Madam Speaker—excuse me. The party leader opposite also raised the fact that in his mind no one was doing what we've done on methane where actually some countries have gone all gases. Some nations have gone net zero all gases and they include for instance I believe the UK which has gone net zero. So I just don't think that's accurate. What we have done however is acknowledge what the science tells us between short-lived gases and long-lived gases but that doesn't mean that we cannot have an aspiration around methane. Secondly the member also mentioned economic impacts. His statements around the impact on New Zealand's economy doesn't factor in that his party themselves have already committed us to a reduction in our emissions. What we are committing to here takes us an extra 0.2 percent impact on GDP. That's actually if you don't realise the opportunities of transitioning our economy and this is where I am proud of this side of the House. We have invested $14 billion into transitioning our transport options in New Zealand. We are investing in low-emissions transport options like cycling like the use of rail and like the use of walking to try and bring down some of those emissions. Annually we're putting $20 million into reducing agricultural emissions and on the 10 percent methane reduction by 2030 that was based on advice by my Chief Science Advisor who also points out we are reducing agricultural biological methane emissions by 1 percent a year already. We can do this but we have to aspire and commit to doing it. We have a $100 million Green Investment Fund. We have given certainty to the oil and gas sector by not continuing to release exploration permits into the future and instead we are investing $50 million into cutting-edge energy research in a new energy research and development centre in Taranaki. It is our region where they have traditionally relied on fossil fuels and we must support them to transition into new energy technology. Mr—Madam Speaker. It is delightful Madam Deputy Speaker to have you in the Chair—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have yet to see you—Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: —but I'm just not used to it I'm sorry. It is true that I called climate change my generation's nuclear-free moment. I absolutely believe that it is and what did I mean by that? Well I meant that we are being confronted with an enormous issue and that we are the ones that are going to have to make a bold decision as to how we will want to be known going forward on and whether we will be on the right side of history—will we take a stand? My aspiration is for the next generation not to have to make that decision because we will have made it and we will have set in place the foundations for making sure that the only thing that they need to worry about is that we keep the momentum and the action going. Today we lay the foundation in this House. We take our nuclear-free moment so that the next generation doesn't have to."