Ajournment Speech 2008

I would like to start by remembering those who have come before us. I would like to remember Rod Donald. Rod Donald died on 6 November 2005. Rod was a patriot. He was a New Zealand patriot. He had a vision for this country and he had a deep love for this country, and I think we are all the poorer without him. I would like to thank Rod for all that he gave to New Zealand and for all that he gave to the Green Party and to this Parliament. I also thank Nicola for all of her support for me since I have taken over as co-leader. Rod was a man who looked forward and I hope that the Green Party has carried his vision forward. I would also like to remember Brian Donnelly. I did not know Brian Donnelly, but my Green Party colleagues thought very, very highly of him. I offer my condolences to New Zealand First and to Brian’s family.

I thank the people who made it possible for me to be here—Nandor Tanczos, Mike Ward, and Catherine Delahunty. They put the interests of the Green movement ahead of their own personal interests. It was important for the Greens to have our co-leaders in Parliament, in order to recover from the loss of Rod Donald, and that was possible only because those three people put the interests of the movement and the interests of New Zealand ahead of their own personal interests. I have tried hard to reward Nandor, Mike, and Catherine’s faith in me, and I hope that I have not disappointed them. People who see the world through their own self-interested frame will never understand that some people are capable of seeing the bigger picture and of doing what is right, and those three people did that.

I thank the staff, the messengers, the cleaners, the Speaker, the Clerk, and all of those people who make this place possible and make it work. We could not do what we are doing without them. I would also make a special mention of Helen Culver. Helen is Jeanette Fitzsimons’ secretary. She was in a bike accident this morning and is in hospital, but she is OK. I hope that Helen gets out of there fast, so that she can come back and help us in the campaign. I hope that she gets better soon. I would also say to the bus driver who cut off me and another cyclist this morning on Lambton Quay: “I will support you in your campaign to get decent wages, but you just respect me when I am on my bike.”

The Green Party takes a long-term view of the future. We act today to make the world a better place for today and tomorrow. We also understand that the world is finite. If there is perhaps one novel insight in the green movement, it is an understanding that the world is finite—that is the new insight that the green movement brings. Human ingenuity is infinite, human capacity for love and for hate is infinite, human capacity for greatness and for evil is infinite, but resources are not. Resources are finite. Human activities currently deplete the Earth’s life support system and its resources, but it does not have to be like that. We could actually make this a better place. We have to learn how to live well while protecting this beautiful planet we call home. We have to learn to live well while improving the life-support system of planet Earth. The very existence of the Green Party is proof that we have started that journey of learning how to live on this planet as if we mean to stay here, but we are only at the very, very beginning of that journey.

I will talk about climate change for a little bit and about methane hydrate. One of the most dangerous scenarios with climate change is that the methane frozen in the form of methane hydrate tied up under the oceans could be released as the oceans warm. In recent days there have been reports of plumes of methane being released in the Arctic Circle as the undersea permafrost melts and releases methane. Methane, of course, is 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide. To quote from the Independent: “In the past few days, the researchers have seen areas of sea foaming with gas bubbling up through ‘methane chimneys’ rising from the sea floor. They believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a ‘lid’ to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age. They have warned that this is likely to be linked with the rapid warming that the region has experienced in recent years.”

There are two reports now about methane being released in huge quantities in the Arctic region. One of those reports suggests the methane has been coming out for a long time—since the last ice age—and the other one suggests that this is actually new and that what we are facing now is the positive feedback that could result in rapid climate change. For those who actually understand climate science, this is almost certainly one of the most worrying things that the human race has ever seen in climate change. For those members who follow the news, the day that they read that article will be a day that they will all remember. It is still early, but if these reports are true, then we are seeing the beginning of the most dangerous positive feedback loop—the positive feedback loop that will release masses of methane and produce massively more global warming.

New Zealand, of course, is a major contributor per capita to greenhouse gas emissions. Our emissions have increased by about a quarter since 1990, and the taxpayer, under the Kyoto Protocol, is responsible for purchasing Kyoto credits to cover the increase. Between 1990 and 1999 our emissions increased by 11 percent, under a National-led Government; and under the current Government, emissions increased by about 13 percent to 2006. Since 2006 they have increased quite significantly. The dairy sector has increased its emissions of methane by about 77 percent since 1990, and emissions of nitrous oxide will have increased by a similar amount. Because we have to purchase the carbon credits to actually cover that increase in emissions, we are subsidising the dairy sector’s emissions by about $200 million a year. Every dairy conversion gets a bonus from the taxpayer of roughly $120 per cow. Each new cow costs the taxpayers roughly $120 per year to cover the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. It is a strange situation whereby we find ourselves subsidising our own demise. What kind of a system have we set up when the taxpayer subsidises our increase in greenhouse gas emissions? It seems to me that that is not really a user-pays system, and I think that both sides of this House need to change that.

In terms of public transport, we made a little bit of progress on that issue under this Government, and I acknowledge that. However, we are still spending six to seven times as much on roading as we do on public transport. We still have an enormously long way to go. I also acknowledge the billion dollars the Greens obtained for the green homes project, as part of our support for the emissions trading scheme. We made some progress there but we still have a long way to go. On the issue of oil prices we still have, sadly, a Government in denial. Oil prices will go up and down, but the long-term future can only be up. There is no choice. When it comes to food, I think one of the most extraordinary things is the bipartisan opposition to country-of-origin labelling of food because it is supposedly not a food safety issue. It seems incredible to me that anyone could argue now that having a label to tell us about the origin of food is not a food safety issue. That seems completely incredible.

Of course, one of the great concerns of everyone at the moment is the state of the economy. I would say that our economy is in danger. I would say it is in danger because of inaction to protect our environment. Our environmental performance will be one of the deciding factors in our economic performance now and into the future. Our primary production and tourism sectors are dependent on being clean and green. Being one of the worst greenhouse gas polluters per capita does not fit with being clean and green. Having most of our lowland rivers full of cow effluent does not fit with being clean and green, and having Crown research institutes producing genetically engineered llamas and goodness knows what else does not fit with being clean and green. Our markets will judge us on our environmental performance, and the only party that will protect the economic future of this country is the Green Party. We can live well and look after this beautiful planet we all share.