Turei Metiria: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Turei Metiria: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:632;Page:3703] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 I want to refer to the supplementary estimate on Vote Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: That will be a change. 
METIRIA TUREI 
: That is right it is so topical. I know that the House is fascinated by such issues because they are some of the most serious issues this country will face. It is very important that if we are going to future-proof our country and make sure we have a sustainable economy that will last many generations into the future we do take these issues seriously and develop policy to deal with them. So let us just have a little look at what is happening with Vote Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. 
There is an increase in Vote Climate Change and Energy Efficiency in the supplementary estimates of $112 million. Of that $111 million relates to other expenses to be incurred by the Crown Kyoto Protocol forecast liability. The forecast liability in June 2005 for the Kyoto Protocol was around $310 million. It has now increased to $627 million for two reasons. One is the reforecast of deforestation in this country which reduces the credits available to New Zealand from forest sinks because we keep on cutting down our forests; and secondly the decision not to proceed with the carbon charge which means that our projected greenhouse emissions are set to rise by 13 million tonnes a year. 
It is absolutely clear despite some naysayer scientists—and only a very few of them—that levels of carbon dioxide worldwide are increasing. The recent predictions are that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are now higher than they have been for 650000 years. That is a horrible and shocking figure for people to hear and people sometimes do not quite understand why that is so important and feel that perhaps it is excessive but it is not. It is scientifically recognised as being the current understanding of carbon dioxide levels and we must take it very seriously because we are seeing effects—unprecedented ice melt at the polar caps; the acidification of our oceans; the slowing down of the Gulf Stream which if it gets too bad could significantly decrease the temperature of northern Europe; the thawing of the tundra which is leading to the extinction of species; and freak storms droughts and floods. We need only to look at our own country at the moment; parts of our country are still without power because of such freak storms. That is actually happening to our own people in our own land right now. 
This Government has no new plans to address these issues since it abandoned the carbon charge. Recently at the climate change conference Simon Upton said that the carbon charge was the simplest most effective and fairest way of putting a price signal on carbon to encourage a change in behaviour. What is most surprising is that National members could oppose this mechanism. They are committed to market tools. They advocate for the management of scarce resources like water by the use of market tools yet when a market tool is used for carbon—one of the most serious issues facing this planet—they oppose the carbon charge. It is very unfortunate that National has such an inconsistent policy and principle approach. How can it possibly have a rational responsible environmental policy if it cannot even deal with these issues by using its own tools effectively? 
The carbon charge sets the price for carbon across the whole economy and it makes energy efficiency and renewable energy options much more effective. It would provide real incentives to reduce the burning of fossil fuels which would increase the sustainability of our natural resources on which our economy is highly dependent—fisheries forestry and farming are highly dependent on the natural resources of this country. A carbon charge would help to stimulate market responses to the demand for energy and fuel alternatives. This would shift our economy from a dead-end extractive one that goes nowhere to a sustainable economy future-proofed against environmental and international vagaries of all kinds. This could make us world leaders in innovative sustainable technology. 
But instead of opening the door to this potential for our country—this potential sustainable future for us all—National and Labour are both responsible for the complete policy vacuum that exists in New Zealand at the moment. So New Zealand is continuing to dig up fossil fuels out of pristine fragile New Zealand ecosystems—fossil fuels that will contribute millions and millions of tonnes to the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. We continue to spend precious transport dollars which could be used to protect against rising fuel costs not on public transport—which people actually want they actually use and they say they need—but on building more roads on which only the rich will be able to drive. 
That is not a sustainable economy. There is no future-proofing plan or policy in place to deal with the rising costs of oil and the resultant massive increases in the current account deficit—something like 9.5 percent of our GDP—or with the rising mortgage interest rates that result from the price of oil going up overseas. The Vote Climate Change and Energy Efficiency supplementary estimate—the new money that is needed—is indicative of the complete lack of planning and care that this Government and National have in making sure we can have a sustainable economy in a sustainable country that our environment is able to provide for us long into the future for our children and grandchildren and which protects our economy and our development over time. 
The Greens have a proposal called  
Turn Down the Heat 
 which we released earlier this year. It contains a wide range of policy options that could be used to help address this policy vacuum. It has been very well received by people in the know—by specialists who understand these issues—and it has been relatively well received by the Government which is great. We look to all the parties in this House to take seriously the proposals in that plan because it is the only plan on the table. We are the ones who have seriously put time energy and effort into finding out what those options are for us if we do not have a carbon charge and if we do not deal with the Kyoto Protocol. We are urging parties across the House to really consider these proposals because we can future-proof our country if these proposals are taken seriously. These are the only options on the table and they must be considered by the Government and other parties as well. 
 This country has so much potential to do amazing things for itself and for the world. The world is crying out for innovative technology sustainable ideas and ways of protecting ourselves and the planet into the future. We need to make sure the way we live is socially just so that all people have what they need to live well and have healthy lives and environmentally sound so that our planet is protected resources are available for many generations of people to use and consume and systems are in place to manage waste so that we do not continue to poison our rivers lands and seas with the dregs of what we choose not to use—with what comes from our excessive consumption. 
These options and opportunities are truly available to us. We need only the political will and forethought to think not just about ourselves or the next election but about what our children and grandchildren will truly need in the future. We strongly urge this House and the parties and MPs in it to take a future-looking view to make sure that we have a future-proofed country and a sustainable economy.