Fitzsimons Jeanette: Budget Debate 
Fitzsimons Jeanette: Budget Debate 
[Volume:647;Page:16241] 
JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 We are living in a moment in history and in a generation where the people who have the power have a clear choice: either they face inconvenient truths that are very obviously around us or they leave it to their grandchildren to face those truths when it may be too late. But the one thing that gets this Parliament excited is tax cuts. 
We are bumping up against the limits of growth. The atmosphere will absorb only so much carbon. There is a finite number of fish in the sea. The planet has only so much fresh water and only so much oil. Unless we recognise all of this we will only create problems from Budget to Budget for our grandchildren and for the world. Those environmental limits are already feeding inflation in a way that just playing with the official cash rate is not able to control. We have to recognise that the environment is the economy and that resource limits are driving our spiral of high inflation high interest costs and high exchange rates which again raise the cost of imported resources. Oil water and climate limits are driving food prices up—up 28 percent in a year for a basket of staples the  
New Zealand Herald  
tells us—which in turn are driving poverty. 
Addressing the problem at its cause will enable us to get monetary policy under control but Parliament can see only tax cuts. Some days—and this is one of them—I feel like I am surrounded in this Chamber by people who have their heads in the sand. There is the opportunity here to propose an answer to the defining challenges of our time—and I say to Winston it is not trade and diplomacy—to unite us collectively as a people sharing the costs of our carbon footprint equitably and sharing both the effort and the resources. There is an opportunity to future-proof the quality of our lives in an uncertain world. But our Parliament is talking about tax cuts. 
This is not a Budget in total that will be remembered and celebrated by my grandchildren’s generation or even in a couple of years from now. What this week will be remembered for is not this Budget but a turning point in the economic history of the world. The financial markets have finally recognised that we live in a time of diminishing resources bumping up against the limits of the planet. Yesterday for the first time in history the futures markets for oil put their money on continuous price increases from here on out. It is the first time in history that that has happened. I do not want to frighten members but the bubble of limitless mindless and unfair economic expansion has burst. As I said yesterday for the first time in history the futures market for oil put its money on continuous price increases from here on out. To ordinary common-sense people that might seem a no-brainer. Is that not what oil prices have been doing for years now? Well the futures market does not think like that. Until now the market has been in a state known in the trade as backwardation. It means one looks in the rear-vision mirror to predict the future. I have shown the House the results of that before. Repeated oil price forecasts by Treasury the Ministry of Economic Development and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand start each time from a higher real price and predict it will fall; it never happens and they never learn. But Parliament argues about tax cuts. 
Now that the futures market on which Treasury says it bases its predictions has moved out of backwardation can we expect Treasury and the Government to stop backwardising too? Is it not about time they used a windscreen instead of a rear-vision mirror got out of their backwardisation and contangoed with the Greens? Contango is the other state where the futures markets put their money on oil prices rising continuously. That is where we Greens would put our money if we were speculators. It is where we have been for years now ever since I pointed out in my 2004 Budget speech that as Dr Cullen was delivering his speech the price of oil was just over double Treasury’s predictions on which that Budget was based. 
So at this defining moment in history what forecasts has Treasury used today to underpin this Budget? Well it has forecast a drop to US$100 a barrel which is higher than it has ever said before; it has forecast US$100 right out to 2012 but today it is US$133. It has forecast US$100 a barrel in defiance of the futures market. I am sorry but this fiction has gone on long enough. It borders on negligence. True leadership requires that we admit that the economy is still and always has been subject to the laws of physics. True leadership requires that we acknowledge the challenges ahead and that we take steps to safeguard our families and the planet that supports them. True leadership requires that we face facts and make hard decisions even when the information at hand is incomplete and even when there is an election pending. It requires courage and I do not see a lot of it here. 
So we can agree as a starting point then that this Budget is not based on reality. We cannot trust its numbers. It is planning for the past not for the future. That is the same lack of urgency that we see in climate change policy: “Lord make me carbon neutral but not just yet; in fact not for a very long time please and don’t make me take serious steps towards it for ages.” Last week I quoted in the House Dr RajendraPachauri head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who said of the world’s climate change efforts: “If there is no action before 2012 that’s too late. What we do in the next 2 to 3 years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.” Half our greenhouse emissions are not planned to face any price on carbon even at the margin till the year after Dr Pachauri says it is too late. But the New Zealand Parliament is arguing about tax cuts. 
We have a small window of opportunity perhaps 3 to 5 years to make New Zealand a more resilient nation that is able to withstand the shocks that lie ahead in oil food and climate. We have a small window to invest in the economic transition to reduce our dependence on oil with much more efficient transport options—but we see again six times as much funding for motorways as for public transport—with more energy-efficient self-reliant homes; with businesses that make their money from resource-conserving activities; and with food supplies grown sustainably and locally. I have been calling for years for sector-based peak oil task forces of industry and Government leaders to analyse our vulnerability and develop strategies for each sector to overcome it. Since I first called for that other countries have been doing it but New Zealand has not moved yet. Queensland’s task force has just reported after a couple of years’ work. It was set up in alarm when oil prices were predicted to reach—wait for it—US$115 by 2050. That was enough to trigger emergency action by the Queensland government. Today it is US$133. But the New Zealand Parliament is arguing about tax cuts. 
The Greens welcome the fairness with which the tax cuts have been delivered through the economy—provided that one is in work. For those on benefits who are some of the most vulnerable in our communities this Budget offers nothing except maybe an incentive to have more children in order to qualify for Working for Families. It is a national shame that beneficiaries are worse off economically today than they were after the 1991 “mother of all Budgets”—and that is reported in the Government’s own reports. This Budget does not help them. 
The Government seems to have totally ignored the 61 percent of people who said just last month they would rather not have tax cuts if it meant cuts to spending on health education and benefits. Failing to fund those services to keep up with needs is a cut even if the amount of money does not go down. Michael Cullen acknowledged that when he said that Budget 2009 will have lower spending and require “significant reprioritisation efforts”. “Significant reprioritisation efforts” means things that should be funded will not be funded. 
On the limited evidence available this Budget is probably better than the alternative. It does not deny that climate change exists and it does not drastically cut and privatise health and education services so as to provide more money for the wealthy. It does make some effort to ensure that tax cuts reach lower wage earners. We welcome the recognition of the need for investment in rail. We have been banging on about this for years with campaigns to buy back the tracks and to save the Overlander and we note that Dr Cullen now recognises its importance in the future. But we are concerned that there are no numbers in the Budget speech. The Budget speech is full of numbers but we do not know what this investment in rail is going to amount to. We are glad to see $13 million to restore the Department of Conservation’s capacity after the huge expenses it had with firefighting. We are glad to see an increase in research and development and in funding for tertiary education providers although students are likely to be rather less than overwhelmed by getting another $5 a week. I guess it equals a can of beer a week if one is a student—if one gets it at all. The increase in the accessibility of the living allowance is not very great either. We are glad to see the investment in broadband. We are glad to see shared-equity housing. It is very good small-picture stuff but it misses the big picture. 
The 2008 Budget might not make a huge impact overall but it will make a difference in some specific important areas that the Green Party has targeted and negotiated hard for. If this Budget is to be remembered for anything it is for how much the Green Party—six MPs and not part of the governing coalition—has managed to achieve. We have added some $95 million of value to an otherwise lacklustre Budget. One would never know of course because there was not a single acknowledgment in Dr Cullen’s speech of the things we have worked hard to achieve in this Budget. That shows the lack of value that he puts on the initiatives we have put forward. 
The Budget targets the much-neglected community sector—that vital third sector of the economy where civil society organises in not-for-profit organisations to work for the common good. It promotes better health not by waiting until people are sick and then treating them but by keeping them healthy by preventing illness from cold damp houses antibiotic-resistant infections and contaminated food. It promotes democracy by opening up the decision-making process to ordinary people outside of politics and Parliament. And it links key Green concerns about climate change and biodiversity conservation. 
Let us look a little more closely at some of what we have achieved. For a total of $53 million we will ensure that in 5 years’ time no State house tenant lives in a cold damp home. I acknowledge the support of two Ministers on this issue particularly. It will mean that 21000 homes have a package of renovations including insulation draft-proofing of windows and doors wraps for hot-water cylinders efficient showerheads lagging of pipes low-energy lights and in some cases energy-efficient home heating. This of course helps with our climate change efforts in a small way because insulated homes use about one-fifth less energy. But for the people who live in State houses who are among our most needy it is a huge move. Children who live in insulated houses have half the number of days off school from asthma and respiratory disease. Their education is improved and their families save money on their power bills. This was the only Green initiative mentioned by Dr Cullen in his speech and there was not a single word to acknowledge that it would not have happened unless the Green Party had fought very hard for it. 
We have gained more than $4 million for a citizens’ jury to consider funding of elections and political parties. This important achievement lays to rest uninformed criticism of the Greens for supporting a less than perfect Electoral Finance Bill. We are passionate about everyone having a say in election campaigns not just those with deep pockets who can back up their lobbying with big donations. We are equally passionate about allowing ordinary people not just National and Labour to have a say on how the whole election campaign system should be funded. 
I want to look also at the more than $10 million extra that my colleague Sue Bradford has secured over 4 years for the Community Organisations Grants Scheme. This will help provide essential support for non-profit voluntary and community organisations to help meet real needs. The Community Organisations Grants Scheme is the most devolved and accountable of all Government funding schemes and it has been chronically underfunded since its inception. In my home area of Coromandel for example amounts of money went to groups like the Waihi and Paeroa resource centres the Restorative Justice Services Hauraki Trust the Thames Budget Service the Mercury Bay St John Ambulance and the Coastguard Northern Region. 
Earlier I said that the Budget does nowhere near enough to address our Kyoto obligations. But Green MP Metiria Turei has at least convinced the Government to do more on climate change research. Funding of $8 million over 4 years will go to five major research projects on climate change on conservation land. Study will also be made of how increasing carbon storage can maximise biodiversity values and of the impact of extreme weather events such as floods slippage wind storms tidal surges avalanches and rockfalls on the management of huts tracks and campsites on Department of Conservation land. Meanwhile in the conservation area $4 million over 2 years will go to the new National Community Biodiversity Fund to support restoration projects on public and Maori land that protect indigenous biodiversity. 
Through the efforts of Sue Kedgley the Green Party has secured $4 million of funding over 4 years to establish a new and comprehensive antibiotic-resistant surveillance system to be administered by the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Food Safety Authority. The aim is to monitor not only prescriptions of antibiotics but also the levels of antibiotic resistance in our hospitals our communities our environment and food-producing animals. Sue has also initiated $2.4 million to look much more closely at the safety of the food we import which totals 2.5 million tonnes a year. At a time when this Government has decided on a preferential trade deal with China and when there are numerous media stories about occasional pollutants in Chinese exports we need to be much more vigilant at our borders. 
Nandor Tanczos has secured $800000 over 4 years for environment centres. These centres provide environmental information and education for communities and promote recycling alternative power sources and energy efficiency. I have visited a number of these centres over the years and they do a host of things such as running seminars and training courses on environmental issues helping people to understand how to use the Resource Management Act and taking part in practical projects such as cleaning up waterways and restoring the biodiversity of bush reserves and wetlands. 
 Last but not least of the things I have time to talk about today we have funding for people in our country who are among the most marginalised and the most needy—refugees. The Green Party does not attack refugees as some parties do because they are unlucky enough to find themselves without a safe home. Keith Locke has instead secured $1 million of funding over 4 years to help them set up homes and jobs here. New Zealand has a proud record of doing its bit by accepting refugees but in our view it does not do enough to help them settle once they are here. We will help them put the horrors that they have experienced behind them live a quality lifestyle and contribute in positive ways to our country. In looking at one of the causes of refugee suffering we again promote the cause of preventing rather than fighting wars. Keith has secured $200000 for a peacemaking feasibility study to look at the possibility of New Zealand furthering our work in resolving conflicts around the world beyond what we are already doing in places like Bougainville. 
I said earlier that this Budget is not based in reality. It is backwardising in that it expects the future to be like the past. It is ignoring the urgent need to respond to climate change peak oil and resource depletion. It is a long long way behind and the tragedy is that National is even further behind. I would like to devote the last little bit of my time to silence in order to recognise the dead hopes and perishing people who will be—and in some countries already are—the victims of Governments around the world that refuse to get serious about climate change the end of cheap oil and abundant food and the need to plan a different kind of future.