Ngarewa-Packer Debbie; Hipkins ChrisDebbie Ngarewa-Packer: Tēnā koe te Pīka. Tēnā tātou—SPEAKER: Well I think what I'm going to do is to seek leave for Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to make a statement on behalf of the Māori Party here because there is not an entitlement. Can I also suggest that we put it down as a matter of business for the Business Committee to see if we can agree to an order for the rest of the year or a sessional order so we don't run into this problem again. Is there any objection to that? There appears to be none. Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): Point of order Mr Speaker. I might be able to short-circuit that process and seek leave for the Māori Party to be considered a specified party for the purposes of the Standing Orders for the remainder of this term of Parliament. SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that? There is objection. OK we'll undo the short circuit and we'll take the long route and say: is there any objection to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer making a statement now? Hon Member: We've already agreed to that. SPEAKER: I thought I was interrupted by the Leader of the House but if we've already done it we'll keep going. DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Kia ora. Ka tū ahau anō. Tēnā koe te Pīka. Tēnā tātou e te Whare. I rise on behalf of Te Paati Māori recognising the tautoko to do that today and acknowledge the release of the Climate Change Commission's final advice and the Minister's statement in the House today. Despite decades of warnings protests and discussions the planet is continuing to warm. Since 2016 Aotearoa has had three of its hottest years on record since recordings began in 1909. As a result extreme climate conditions are continuing to accelerate. In 2018 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a landmark report that made it clear there were only 12 years left to limit climate catastrophe. There is no time for inaction or delay. Indigenous peoples are at the forefront of fighting to protect our climate for our mokopuna yet to come. As tangata whenua we have the most to lose from a failure to act on climate change despite a relatively tiny contribution to global emissions. Many of our Pasifika whanaunga face the prospect of losing their islands altogether due to sea-level rise. Here in Aotearoa from Raukūmara to Te Hiku Kaikōura to Pātea we have seen that Māori are on the forefront of resisting extractive industries that pollute our environment. We cannot achieve environmental protection and restoration without acknowledging and implementing Māori rights and recognising the role of tangata whenua as kaitiaki and yes that includes actually returning our land and our resources. We cannot beat the climate crisis without restoring lands to their rightful indigenous owners who know how to manage that land in harmony with the climate. I acknowledge last term's decision to ban new offshore oil and gas permits but we must go further. We need to end new onshore oil and gas permits and withdraw both existing onshore and offshore permits with the target of decommissioning all sites by 2030. This House has another opportunity to take action on protecting and restoring the biodiversity of our oceans and taking action on climate by supporting my member's bill the Prohibition on Seabed Mining Legislation Amendment Bill. The commission's report highlights what we need to do to meet our international targets. We must fundamentally transform our transport system. We must transition fast to renewable energy and energy efficiency and this House must stop ignoring the elephant in the room which of course is the effective exclusion of industrial agriculture from our response to the climate crisis. It is clear beyond all doubt that significant and lasting reductions in methane emissions is absolutely critical. The truth is simple and staring us all in the face. Even the Government and the Minister fail to acknowledge it: we need less cows. We need less cows in this country. We must reduce our herd sizes. There is a huge economic opportunity in going for value-add products and making our clean green" brand more than just a brand but a reality. Organic and regenerative agriculture is the future—[Interruption]—and I'm really glad that the people on this side of the House are animated. Our Te Paati Māori manifesto in the last election committed us to taking real action on methane. We would immediately bring methane into the emissions trading scheme and phase out synthetic fertilisers by 2025. These chemicals are driving the surge in climate and water pollution coming out of New Zealand farms in recent decades. This will be a disincentive to continued growth in industrial dairying. We'd also establish a $300 million fund to support Māori farmers to transition towards regenerative and value-added agricultural models. We have an obligation to our rangatahi to unite and to do everything as kaitiaki to protect our taiao and our whānau from the climate crisis in the short time that we have left. I appreciate the clear advice from the Climate Commission that sets out how we can do that in our context here in Aotearoa. Now as MPs it's our job to step up and take the action that is so urgently needed. Nō reira tēnā tātou katoa."