Shaw JamesGENERAL DEBATEJAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. Right now on a distant continent something of enormous import is happening that is going to affect the lives of us all—in this generation and for future generations. Of course I am referring to what is going on in Marrakesh in Morocco where the 22nd conference on climate change is now happening. I know that there will be some people rushing off from the Chamber now to be fixed to their television screens to see what is going on in Morocco while a few others will of course be seeing what is going on in the United States of America. I was just checking Twitter and I noticed that Texas which is normally a solidly Republican seat is too close to call and I believe that is because Texans have got quite a good sense of when someone is talking a lot of hot air. One of my favourite sayings comes from Texas. It refers to someone who is all hat and no cattle. I think that partially what they are seeing in Texas is that Trump is all hat and no cattle—he is a lot of talk. In that way he is quite similar to the National Party because the National Party members say they are environmental champions. They say that they will make New Zealand predator free but they will not say how they are going to pay for it. They say that they care about our rivers but they will not make them swimmable. They say that they will sign the Paris Agreement and ratify it all of that good stuff but they are not actually going to cut our pollution. So what we need to do is look behind the rhetoric. I think that what is going on today is a good illustration of the way that people are grappling with this current era of post-truth politics. The National Government has been in power for 8 years and in 8 years our greenhouse gas emissions have risen 19 percent. This is despite announcement after announcement after announcement from the Government about how great its record is and how deep its commitment is to cutting our climate pollution. The Government says on the one hand that it is committed to doing something about climate change but on the other hand everything that it does actually increases our emissions. There are more roads and motorways less investment in public transport more drilling for oil off our coasts and more intensive dairying. After 8 years our emissions are up. It is all hot air from the National Government. That is its plan. What is going on in Marrakesh? What is New Zealand's commitment to these climate change talks? As far as I can tell we are interested in forestry rules that allow New Zealand to write off an entire year's worth of emissions—to just rub the slate clean. We are interested in setting up an international market for carbon credit trading that means that we can pay other countries to reduce their pollution so that we do not have to—we can let ourselves off the hook in another way. When it comes to international aid where we made multiple hundred-million dollar commitments last year in Paris there is no sign of any new or additional aid to our Pacific neighbours who are the first to feel the effects of climate change. It is all hot air from the National Government when it comes to climate change and it greatly concerns me. What are our negotiating teams doing in Marrakesh? Are they actually trying to reduce our emissions? Are they actually trying to work out an international framework where our commitment and the words that we say have any effect in reality whatsoever? I honestly cannot tell you. I do not think that Americans will choose Trump today because hype and hot air eventually become transparent. Just like with Trump New Zealanders are not going to buy more talk and no action. They want real action on climate change. Eventually it has got to give. After 8 years with no action on climate change it is time to change the Government and change is coming—especially to climate change.