3. Paris Agreement—United States' WithdrawalJAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime MinisterParis Agreement—United States' Withdrawal3. JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime Minister: What if anything has he said to United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about President Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Prime Minister: The meeting with Mr Tillerson has only just concluded and as such I have not had a chance to talk to the Prime Minister in person yet. I note that the Prime Minister has said he will express New Zealand's disagreement with the decision and reiterate that New Zealand remains committed to the Paris Agreement.James Shaw: Does the Prime Minister think that simply expressing disappointment is strong enough in response to the US undermining the efforts of nearly every other country on earth to stave off worldwide disaster?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I think that he has been very clear that New Zealand does not agree with what the US has done. It is not something that New Zealand is even looking at. We stay strongly committed to the Paris Agreement. I am not sure that there is a different response from New Zealand that would get a different answer from the President of the United States.James Shaw: Did the Prime Minister inform Secretary Tillerson that the New Zealand Defence Force considers climate change to be a major emerging stability threat in the Pacific region and if so what was Secretary Tillerson's response?Hon PAULA BENNETT: As I noted in my earlier answer that meeting has only just concluded and I do not know what they spoke of.James Shaw: Did the Prime Minister tell Secretary Tillerson that if the United States wants to continue to play a leadership role in the Pacific it will need to understand that the actions that it has taken directly threaten the continued survival and existence of a number of Pacific Island States?Hon PAULA BENNETT: As I stated I am not sure exactly what those discussions were as they have only just taken place. The best I can give the member is a Twitter feed from Vernon Small which said that Tillerson said the US is proud of its record of reducing greenhouse gases. Small quoted Tillerson:  'I don't think anyone should interpret US has stepped away from these issues.' "Aupito William Sio: Did the Prime Minister convey with urgency to Secretary Tillerson that climate change is the single biggest issue for Pacific Island nations which will face displacement as a direct result of climate change when the USA is still the world's No. 1 polluter in terms of per capita carbon dioxide emissions with 18 tonnes emitted per person compared with the Pacific Island countries emitting per capita equivalent emissions of approximately 0.96 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I am unsure exactly what the Prime Minister and Mr Tillerson have spoken about because I have not had a chance to talk to the Prime Minister to see how that conversation went. What I will say is that the US has said that it may be interested in renegotiating and hopefully that means something meaningful but the rest of the world is unsure at this stage. We voice our disappointment. We stand with our Pacific cousins in actually making sure that we do lower our own emissions and we work with the rest of the world in doing so.James Shaw: Does the Prime Minister agree with his Minister of Foreign Affairs that "in the end it is the trading relationship … that [is] pretty important to us" and if so how does he think that the trading relationship will be affected by increasing droughts and floods savaging our export industries massive movements of people leaving their uninhabitable homelands and as the Pentagon itself worries increasing global instability from climate change?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I think there are a number of different facets to the relationship with the US that are important to us. Trade is one as is our security. We are disappointed to see that it has pulled out of the Paris Agreement but we hope we can still continue to work in some way to reducing their own emissions in the US.James Shaw: Given New Zealand's proud history of standing up to the United States over nuclear weapons is today not the day that our Prime Minister should be standing up to the United States about climate change and condemning Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I do note that there are states within America that are still very committed to reducing emissions and in fact California has an emissions trading scheme that works very well and you can see its emissions tracking down. Equally there are some big US businesses that understand that to have a future they need to have more clean energy and they are committed to that. I think condemning the whole US for the stance the current administration has taken would be wrong in my opinion.James Shaw: Is not the real reason why the Prime Minister is failing to strongly condemn President Trump's decision because morally he does not have a leg to stand on because under his Government's watch there has been a massive expansion in deep-sea oil exploration new coalmines started on Department of Conservation land and New Zealand's emissions have increased 19 percent since this Government came into office? Hon PAULA BENNETT: No. This part of the House—this Government—is proud of the ambitious targets that we have set for 2030. We want to bend the curve of emissions in this country and we are doing a whole lot of very sensible things to make sure that we arrive there."