…climate change is bigger than petty politics……
“We believe that an emissions trading system is the sensible approach for New Zealand to take in response to the huge challenge of climate change.”
Who said that?
I’ll tell you – it was the National Party’s Nick Smith at the end of 2007 talking on the Climate Change Bill. Smith went on to say, “We now welcome the fact that there is consensus between the major parties that an Emissions Trading System, covering all sectors and all gases, is the right way forward.”
What happened to that consensus? The bill passed its first reading with only Act opposed. No surprise there – what has Act ever done that’s constructive?
Since then, National has decided they no longer support an ETS, well, sort of. As with most decisions by the National Party, this one came with more flip-flopping than a hungry sea-lion. You see, they still claim to support an ETS, just not the one we have. And they won’t be drawn on the detail of any alternative. The reason being of course is that the only honest answer they could give is that their ETS wouldn’t look any different to the one before Parliament in the Climate Change Bill. But they don’t want to tell you that.
Climate Change is one of the most important issues facing the world today and New Zealand’s policy response needs to be one of bi-partisan consensus. This issue is far more important than petty politics and National should know better.
We’ve seen recent newspaper headlines that try to sensationalise the issue in the same way that the National has tried. There have been wild claims that passing the Climate Change Bill will impose all sorts of costs on to the public.
Yes, there will be costs. That is a fact. But we challenge anyone to draw up a trading scheme that doesn’t impose costs! That is the very point of the exercise – putting a carbon price into the economy. What we in Parliament have been trying to do, and what New Zealand First has been working very hard these past few months to try to do, is develop an ETS that imposes the least cost on the general public. A scheme that places the burden of responsibility on those most responsible for our greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time protects the most vulnerable members of our society, be they trade-exposed businesses or low-income households. We are proud of the concessions New Zealand First has won in this regard.
The point that seems to have been forgotten in all this is that New Zealand always faced a bill for it’s Kyoto liabilities whether we pass the Climate Change Bill or not.
The Kyoto Protocol had a bi-partisan beginning in New Zealand. It was an agreement negotiated and signed by a National Government. It was ratified by a Labour Government. Short of New Zealand reneging on what is one of the most important international treaties since the end of the Cold War, there was always going to be a cost. We reached an agreement in New Zealand that an Emissions Trading System was the most appropriate method for meeting those costs. And now that we’ve reached the eleventh hour, where we have a balanced, intelligent piece of legislation, National have destroyed the consensus we had reached in Parliament, because they think that will please their big business backers.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Hi Winston. Can i be frank with you by asking you this question. I hope you’re not offended but why does the media and everyone else want to get rid of you. I have never seen so much contempt for one politician before.
When i was young and doing a business course at waikato polytech back in the mid 90’s i remember a lecturer rubbishing you during a lecture which even now bothered me because he chose to use his position as a teacher to influence students who may or may not end up with careers in the business world.
I was hoping you could shead some light on the matter cause i know many everyday kiwis have been slowly drip fed alot of bad press about you for years by the media so you know as well as i do that this latest media circus thing is just one of many attempts to discredit you.
And it looks like they’ve succeeded on many levels but like i said before, why? Why are you such a threat to the media and other political parties. Is it cause your maori, did you betray national by leaving them and starting NZ First, did you piss someone off. I’d like to know cause i believe you have some good policies for the elderly and i like your style especially when debating with reporters, you make them look stupid but please give us your thoughts on the matter. Thanks
Winston says “Chris, thanks for your question. I’m not offended. It’s a thoughtful and intelligent question. The sort that journalists don’t take the time to ask anymore.
I believe there are two answers to your question. The first is that many National Party supporters, including their big business backers, have never forgiven me for leaving the party. I’ve never had respect for those backers and I’ve never been afraid to take them on (i.e. Winebox inquiry). I guess they don’t like that!
The second is that, these same right-wing backers would like to see a National-Act government and they reckon NZ First is standing in the way of that in the MMP system. So, they’ve trying their best to eliminate NZ First before we even get to election day, because they know on that day, NZ First supporters will tell the country the government they want.
I’ve heard many rumours lately of “money” being offered for information on me. It’s sad that this is the way politics operates. And it’s also sad that most journalists can’t see the wood for the trees. They’re being drip-fed rumour and innuendo by these right-wing groups and most don’t even realise they’re being used this way.
I also have some views on why the media in New Zealand generally behave the way they do. Check out my earlier post” - http://www.winstonpeters.com/archives/163
September 4th, 2008 at 1:38 am
Great work
September 4th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Climate change, fact or a hoax? I don’t know but it cannot be any good pumping poisons into the atmosphere. How’s this for a solution. New Zealand goes nuclear and in 15 years energy problems solved. By that time electric cars will be in mass production, probably hydrogen cars as well. Surprise, surprise a nuclear reactor can produce electricity and hydrogen. No more burning fossil fuels and transport emissions reduced drastically and we can all have our heated towel rails on. What is wrong with that? Also as a bonus no more dependency on the Arabs. Please sensible comments only, none of this ideological clap trap and nonsense about the waste or our clean green image. How clean are we with 1100 people dying annually from air pollution. With over 440 reactors worldwide countries are managing the nuclear industry. Is’nt it ridiculous that we see it as a bogeyman. Let’s get real and go for it.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Electric cars - hogwash, we do not have the capacity in the national grid to recharge them all. \ We do not need to go back to Muldoon’s “Think Big”, we need to think smaller and smarter. But politicians do not want us to do so.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Winston, I also have a question for you.
Among all the debatable issues and priorities on the political agendas and our good policies, isn’t the only certainty among them, that whatever we think needs doing, requires a higher savings and investment for productivity rate, to deliver not only the higher incomes desired, but also the desired welfare potential - to be sustainable at possibly relatively reduced taxation rates, eventually?
The quickest noticeable and annually increasing returns of our collective savings at present would be through allocating our NZ Super Fund to Personal Accounts, and have it working for what it was designed for now, instead of in the 2020s.
This is our long standing and halfway activated policy already - so why not make it our leading election issue?
This does not mean that those always desiring a bigger slice of the cake at someone else’s expense, need to be ignored.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
LEAVE WINSTON PETER’S ALONE
HE IS A VERY HARD WORKING MAN, HE DESERVES RESPECT.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Winston,
Good luck for the election. I think right now, there is some “more insidious than usual” polling going on. I am concerned that what might be happening is the powers that be might be trying to poll you down to an excuse to drop “minor” parties from the leadership debates. I would like to see you on the stage, hopefully without being placed last in the question order and half cut off by add breaks like they did other times before.
I would like to suggest that in all the obfuscation thrown up by National, that the public is in need of reminding why we have a centre party acting as a governor. I mean isnt that what you are in effect doing … centre politics providing temperant governance? Here is where we can really fall over … if the centre fails to carry the power, then we will see this country suffer radical idiological change - one way or another. I might disagree with some NZ First policies (thats the beauty of democracy) - but I do understand the need for NZ Firsts reasonable, moderate and consensus style.
Lastly, regarding climate change. I feel even the phrase “climate change” is ridiculous as its an axiom being debated. We seem to forget the “man made” prefix on there … and even when its purposefully discarded, we then seem to carry the burden of responsibility. I recommend you watch the documentary “The Great Global Warming Swindle” - it will really put climate change politics into proper persective. If you would like it let me know and I will send one to your office. I do not know if you realise the green agenda around this topic … but whats really happening here is various groups are trying to move us off a gold standard and onto a carbon standard - where carbon equates literally to calories of energy. Why? Simple … the new socialism levels people as consumers - and taxes the units they consume.
I have read about this sort of thing for years in science fiction books and various journals. The emission trading scheme is our first attempt to secure a fledgeling tax system for the currency of this new socialist utopia. Over and above this, one sees a huge socialist ground swell around the idea of opening borders. If one were to get a popular movie called “children of men” and watch the documentaries that come with the movie … then it would be obvious where our current immigration policies are coming from. Mobility, and culture are seen as the two biggest inequities in the current global situation. they want ‘us’ to open our borders basically.
The question is ultimately … do kiwis adopt this larger socialist global agenda and share indescriminantly what we have to those less fortunate by opening our borders and taxing our personal consumption of calories, and buying into a new global currency - or do we ring fence this place as something special, unique and possessed by its citizens, not the international community…