Graham Kennedy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Graham Kennedy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 20 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5504. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
5. 
Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for Climate Change Issues 
: Is he confident that in drafting the latest Emissions Trading Scheme amendment bill he has sufficiently taken into account recent scientific concerns over dangerous and man-made climate change? 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Acting Minister for Climate Change Issues) 
: 
 Yes. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: Why is the Minister attempting to weaken the Government’s emissions trading scheme further when leading British and Norwegian scientists are now warning of a “global disaster” unfolding with the final collapse of the Arctic ice cap within the next 4 years—several decades ahead of what had been expected—with “terrible implications” in terms of methane release causing accelerated global warming? 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES 
: Well what we are doing is effectively potentially a short-term response to very fragile economic conditions globally so that—as that party says it cares about—there are jobs for people and we remain competitive in this big world that we live in. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: I seek leave to table two documents pertaining to that question: an item from the  
Guardian 
 of 17 September which quotes the British scientist and a news item from BBC News of 1 September which quotes the Norwegian scientists. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table those two media releases. Is there any objection? There is no objection. 









Documents by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: Is New Zealand doing its fair share given that per capita New Zealand’s gross emissions are more than three times those of China and we are the fifth highest of the countries that signed up to reduce gross emissions under the Kyoto Protocol? 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES 
: We are absolutely doing our fair share. We are 0.2 percent of global emissions so we are never going to solve this problem on our own. Actually a concerted global effort is required and on that front we provide huge leadership when it comes to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases and many other things. In fact as the Minister has told his Associate Minister he is overseas right now doing great work in negotiations on climate change. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Dr Kennedy Graham. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I want to hear the question. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: Why is the Minister who is overseas doing great work at the moment weakening the emissions trading scheme further when he is back home when recordings in Alaska this month show methane levels as high as 2500 parts per billion and separate evidence shows methane gas now bubbling out of the seabed in the Arctic? 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES 
: Because we are concerned about the New Zealanders the Green Party says it is concerned about. We want them to have jobs. We do not want to be uncompetitive. And actually on a world stage we are doing more than our fair share. We are seen as leaders in this area. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Dr Kennedy Graham. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I want to hear—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! I want to hear Dr Kennedy Graham. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: I seek leave to table two more documents. One is pertaining to observations recorded at Barrow Alaska. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Whose document is this? 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: It is an Arctic News blog by the scientist who recorded the observations in Alaska University of London the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: I seek leave to table a document in  
Nature Geoscience 
 by MacDougall Avis and Weaver which depicts “Significant contribution to climate warming from the permafrost carbon feedback”.  
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection. 









Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: Will the Minister when he is back change his mind about further weakening the emissions trading scheme given the comment by a senior European Union negotiator on 11 September that the world should recognise that the 2-degree threshold is not enough yet the chance of achieving it is rapidly diminishing plus the comment by the International Energy Agency chief economist that “Under current policy we are heading for 6 degrees.”? 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES 
: No. We are doing the right thing for New Zealanders at this time and we are doing our fair share in relation to climate change. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: I seek leave of the House to table two documents. The first is an AlertNet release of 11 September citing Mr Betts of the quote that I just gave plus footnote 7 of the  
World Energy Outlook 
 report of November 2011 which quotes the International Energy Agency chief economist. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table those two documents. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: In the name of democracy! When he was drafting the amendment bill did the Minister keep in mind the warning by Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman that “if the consensus of the economic experts is grim the consensus of the climate experts is utterly terrifying.”? 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES 
: As an international figure himself the Minister knows that person but the truth of the matter is that we also have to take into account a whole range of factors like the New Zealand economy and what is happening globally in making sure that the New Zealanders the Green Party says it cares about have jobs in this country. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: Does the Minister feel an obligation when he is back to alert New Zealanders to the fact that annual global emissions of carbon dioxide rose 3.1 percent in 2011 the highest on record? 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES 
: No. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: How can the Minister whether he is overseas or back in New Zealand argue that New Zealand is doing its fair share— 
Hon John Banks 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. There is a well-known precedent in the Standing Orders that you cannot continually refer—in fact you cannot refer—to a member being away or to when he is back. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I do not think the House needs to spend more time on this issue. I am not sure that the member asking the question specifically referred to a member’s absence. He asked the question whether or not the member was away and he was not saying the member was actually away. That is why I have not intervened. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The paradox here is that the first person who mentioned that the Minister may not have been here was his Acting Minister and Mr Banks completely missed that one as well. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I think the House should just proceed with the question. 
Dr Kennedy Graham 
: How can the Minister when he is punching above New Zealand’s weight overseas or at home be sure that New Zealand is doing its fair share to combat climate change and fulfil its obligation to future generations when the amended emissions trading scheme will do nothing to discourage pollution or incentivise clean technology and has this Government not turned the emissions trading scheme into an emissions trading scam? 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES 
: I utterly reject that. What we are doing is maintaining current settings in the short term. While the economy worldwide is incredibly fragile we need to protect New Zealand jobs but when the time is right we may well ramp things up. We are doing our fair share on climate change in comparison with really most other countries the member might like to mention.