Back in May 2006, a communication strategy paper set out suggestions for how Helen Clark’s Labour Government, which had struggled to win a third term in 2005, could win the 2008 election. It said, “Labour needs a new approach and a new way of speaking to the NZ public… a fresh approach showing leadership to the rest of the world – that this little country at the end of the world can be a role model”.
The paper is thought to have been the catalyst for Helen Clark’s leap onto the environmental bandwagon with a pitch for New Zealand to become a world leader in ‘sustainability’. In her 20-minute Prime Ministerial statement to Parliament at the beginning of 2007, the terms ‘sustain’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘sustainability’ were used 42 times:
“My annual statement to Parliament this year is a call to action on sustainability. I believe New Zealand can aim to be the first nation to be truly sustainable… I believe that in the years to come, the pride we take in our quest for sustainability and carbon neutrality will define our nation…
“Two decades ago it was the threat of nuclear war destroying the world as we knew it which galvanised New Zealand to become nuclear free and to work for a more peaceful world… And so it must be with this century’s environmental sustainability challenge. We have to make a stand – for our world, and for our own sake… The future economic costs of doing nothing are dire.”
Helen Clark’s game plan was to make New Zealand carbon neutral and a global leader in sustainability by introducing the world’s first Emissions Trading Scheme to cover all gases and all sectors, by increasing renewable electricity generation to ninety percent by 2025, and by leading the world in electric car ownership to halve transport emissions by 2040.
Public concerns over an ETS focussed on the fact that including agriculture in the scheme, would not only drive up food prices and the cost of living, but would reduce the global competitiveness of the country’s primary export sector leading to lower returns, fewer jobs and declining economic growth.
The controversy spilled over into election year. Labour lost the 2008 election.
Fast-forward to the present, and Jacinda Ardern appears to have picked up where Helen Clark left off – even to the point of embracing the ‘nuclear free’ issue as her own.
Like Helen Clark, our Prime Minister is using global warming to create a political platform on the international stage – and perhaps a career path to the United Nations.
Her game plan – to lead the world through zero carbon legislation – will come at a significant economic cost to New Zealand. Since most of our man-made greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of methane from livestock and the food producing agricultural sector – along with carbon dioxide from motor vehicles, the financial burden will fall disproportionately on farmers and poorer families.
This creates a dilemma for the PM. As a climate change warrior, Jacinda Ardern will want to increase ETS carbon taxes on fuel – to make electric vehicles viable. But as a populist defender of the poor, she knows high ETS carbon taxes will flow through and increase the cost of living.
The present rise in petrol prices and living costs is providing a taste of what’s to come.
Motorists are angry that in spite of Government taxes making up over half of the price of petrol, Labour, which had made a ‘no new taxes’ commitment, has not only increased excise tax by another 4 cents a litre and imposed a 12 cents a litre regional fuel tax in Auckland, but is planning two more 4 cents a litre excise tax increases as well as a 2 cents a litre ACC levy increase.
When Jacinda Ardern realised the anger over rising petrol prices was being directed at the Government, she blamed petrol companies for price gouging. When it was pointed out that Government taxes are a main contributor, she again attempted to seize the high ground by saying, “I can give this guarantee to consumers, there will be no other regional fuel taxes while I am Prime Minister.” Her commitment, of course, flies in the face of her own legislation, which specifically enables other regions to seek approval for an Auckland-style regional fuel tax from 2021.
The duplicity of the Prime Minister’s attempts to win favour with motorists by attacking petrol companies on the one hand, while leading the Government’s zero carbon agenda on the other, was not lost on Newshub reporter Ryan Bridge, who said Jacinda Ardern’s hypocrisy on climate change and petrol prices “knows no bounds”.
He described how the Prime Minister is trying to have it both ways. She says she’s “on the warpath” against the oil industry to stop price hikes, ordering an inquiry, and claiming that petrol companies that are “fleecing” motorists and “profiteering” will be compelled to open their books. But at the same time, she’s described climate change as her generation’s “nuclear-free moment”, stopped all new fossil fuel exploration, and called on other world leaders to do more.
Ryan says, “The hypocrisy here knows no bounds. Shouldn’t you be happy, Prime Minister, that people are getting out of their cars? Isn’t that what you wanted? See, it’s very easy to attack Big Oil and stop them exploring for it, an easier target than to attack motorists – aka voters – because they keep you in a job. This nuclear-free thing is virtue signaling at its very worst, from a Government whose so-called moral crusade against climate change is running on nothing but hot air.”
A number of other factors, besides Government taxes, are of course contributing to rising pump prices. These include the low New Zealand dollar and high oil prices caused by the global demand of around 99 million barrels per day outstripping supply by some 500,000 barrels per day. This is largely the result of the US renewing sanctions on oil exports from Iran, the collapse of Venezuela’s oil output, and the bottlenecks that have developed in the production of US shale oil.
In response to the shortage, the OPEC group of major oil producers led by Saudi Arabia has agreed to increase production from 33 million barrels per day. However, spare global oil production capacity is at a 30-year low, and with oil fields declining by an average of 5 to 7 percent a year, without new exploration to cover the depletion rate, oil prices are set to rise dramatically in the future. For shale oil, the ‘depletion’ rate is 30 to 35 percent a year.
For countries like New Zealand that rely on oil imports, the problem is that new investment in oil and gas projects has been collapsing around the world over recent years. With new oil reserve discoveries at a record low and growing uncertainties about future global supplies, Jacinda Ardern’s unilateral decision to close down our oil and gas industry looks increasingly irresponsible.
Whether public unrest over petrol price rises will force the coalition to take a reality check over their zero carbon agenda remains to be seen. But it certainly appears that anger at the economic sacrifice that New Zealanders will be forced to endure, will be directed at the Government.
By pushing her zero carbon agenda, Jacinda Ardern’s promise to relieve poverty and improve the lives of struggling families and children will also be put to the test.
As soon as Labour brings agriculture into the ETS, the retail cost of food will increase in earnest.
Given that it will be Labour’s policies that are to blame, the coalition will no doubt try to deflect responsibility. In light of Jacinda Ardern’s attack on petrol companies in response to the fuel price rise, we shouldn’t rule out similar attacks on supermarkets with allegations that they too are fleecing customers and profiteering from the poor and needy.
It’s bad enough when the leader of a country that produces only 0.17 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions plans to do more to look good on the world stage, by introducing austerity measures that will significantly reduce economic growth and living standards. But it’s even worse when the data on which it’s all based is faulty, with the actual contribution that New Zealand makes to so-called global warming almost too small to measure.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, Dr Jock Allison, a former Director of Research for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, outlines how the global warming potential of the gases that underpin the zero carbon agenda have been wrongly calculated.
When setting climate change policy, our Government relies on data from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which uses complex mathematical models that have not been validated and contain significant errors and omissions.
For instance, when considering greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water vapour dominates, making up around 95 percent, compared to carbon dioxide at 4 percent and methane at a miniscule 0.4 percent. Yet the IPCC models ignore the major influence of water vapour to focus on carbon dioxide and methane. This is in spite of around 90 percent of the planet’s greenhouse gas effect being attributed to water vapour, which absorbs the sun’s energy and, through convection, rises to form clouds high up in the atmosphere. These clouds not only trap heat, but they also limit the ability of methane and carbon dioxide to absorb radiation.
Dr Allison explains that new scientific evidence shows that the warming potential of man-made greenhouse gases has been “vastly overstated by the IPCC”:
“Much has been written recently about the misrepresentation of the effectiveness of methane as a Greenhouse Gas. Our paper published in September in The Journal (the official publication of the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management), concludes that methane, as a ‘short lived’ gas, is irrelevant as a Greenhouse Gas. Not only is methane having very little effect on warming, but the financial burden of allowing for a massive warming effect based on defective science can’t be justified.
“Carbon Dioxide also has a short residence time in the atmosphere. The assumption of the IPCC that CO2 has a residence time in the atmosphere of 200+ years, and perhaps more than 1,000 years cannot be justified. Recent studies of radioactive carbon in our atmosphere show a ‘half life’ of 10 years only… Any efforts to diminish CO2 emissions or reduce atmospheric CO2 will not have any effect on the climate at all.”
In his article, Dr Allison reminds us that the relationship between the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and temperature is logarithmic, which means that any increase in atmospheric concentrations of CO2 cannot produce dangerous warming:
“Increasing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is not such a potential warming problem for the world as frequently promoted in the scientific literature, by governments and the media. Clearly water vapour is the dominant Greenhouse Gas. CO2 becomes less and less effective – at a logarithmic rate – as its atmospheric concentration increases. Thus, there is limited opportunity for additional CO2 to cause heating.”
Increasing levels of CO2 cause less and less warming – University of Chicago
In other words, doubling or even trebling the amount of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere would not appreciably change the warming effects of the current levels of CO2, since the ability of CO2 to trap heat declines logarithmically. That’s the reason carbon dioxide levels have been so much higher during past geological eras, without causing the planet to fry.
So there we have it. Unless wisdom and common sense prevails, junk science will be used to force New Zealand into economic decline. Why? So our Prime Minister can look good on the world stage. In the process, she will attempt to ride two horses at once, decrying the pain and suffering low income families will face through her zero carbon austerity measures on the one hand, while promoting her “nuclear free” moment internationally, on the other.
Whether voters accept her propaganda remains to be seen.
THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
Should agriculture be included in the Emissions Trading Scheme?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| This PC climate agenda is all about bringing down the West and what’s the best way to bring down NZ? Answer: destroy our biggest export industry, the agricultural sector | George |
| Global Warming. Total scam. Do the math. Check the real science. The great unwashed have been brainwashed. | Robert |
| Thank you Dr Muriel for this well written article, you like many many other New Zealanders have seen what Ardern’s agenda really is…. It’s all about Jucinda and the desire to rise to the top of the UN | Danny |
| Ms Ardern attempts to ride 2 horses but they will invariably go in different directions and she will be split in half exposing her hypocrisy and fall flat on her face. What happened to the wonder baby? The boyfriend has gone back to work already and the grandmothers are babysitting. If I was the grandmother, I would tell her to jump in the global warming lake! | Monica |
| It is total bullshit | Ken |
| It would bankrupt the country | Campbell |
| no no no not ever, global warming is the work of the sun and has been forever, human activity does not nor ever will alter the climate,our dickhead govt, is hellbent on wrecking our economy,we will end up without food, clothing, and shelter.and yes jacindarella went to London to find a prince but he married miss marple instead. | James |
| All this ideology based on bs will bankrupt the country | Laurie |
| Obviously not , if a person is capable of reading and understanding VERIFIABLE science. | Selwyn |
| It is such an important contributor to mankind | Rob |
| The whole ETS scheme is a bloody nonsense, with the consumer footing the bill for big business as they pass the additional cost on to the general public. Give BB 5 years to cut emissions then tax them. Little N Z seems to have taken the ETS scheme far too seriously with our little population of 5 m. Cut off the hand that feeds you and then you will see poverty. What is poverty anyway ?? | Rod |
| Definitely not. This makes no sense scientifically, and only appeals to people like the Greens, who are notorious for focusing on the part of the science that suits their argument, while ignoring everything else (which often engages their argument) | Laurie |
| NO, I can’t believe how stupid this government is, and how beholden they are to the Un, who think they are going to be the world government, maybe Taxinda thinks she might have a go at it as did dear Helen. | Athol |
| Most of the so called global warming comes out of the Beehive especially Jacinda Astern. | ROSS |
| I believe that global warming is cyclical. Pollution is a bigger problem. We keep hearing about the cattle being the cause but without the farmers and the herds where would NZ be? The farmers are doing great works to clean up and I think have become very efficient in their farming practices and conservation. Therefore politicians have to be using this for their own political requirements. | Elizabeth |
| Global warming by CO2 is the biggest hoax ever!! | David |
| Its a complete farce. Now we are cooling rapidly as we enter the profound Grand Solar Eddy Minimum and then into a very deep Glacial this whole issue of anthropogenic climate needs to be put in the bin. | Zoran |
| We are all in this together we all have a responsibility when it comes to emissions. | Barry |
| As with all trading schemes the ETS will ultimately end in tears as the world wakes up to the real facts about climate change and that will seriously impact on the cost of food even if the global population were to decline during the operation of any ETS. What governments create they can uncreate at any time on the whim of a misinformed prime Minister and as such should any ETS should be excluded from any business planning. | Victor |
| There shouldn’t be any ETS at all, as there is no man made global warming. What does it take for these idiot politicians to understand. | Vaughan |
| Start looking after New Zealanders for a change instead of following a political agenda designed to keep Labout in power. | Maurice |
| The emissions are minute on a national & international scale so they should not be included at all. | Cyril |
| The miniscule amount of extra methane produced is totally insignificant compared to water vapour as a “greenhouse gas” | Doug |
| Definitely not! The whole climate change debacle is a political cover-up for their plan for a one world government. | Elizabeth |
| Too important to our economy | Graeme |
| Global warming has been a one world order con since it’s inception | John |
| Animal methane is a natural occurrence. Are humans going to be taxed for farting? | Martin |
| There shouldn’t be an emissions trading scheme at all. | Hilary |
| C02 is not a pollutant rather it is a natural product critical to life on this planet. | Richard |
| We need a global strategy to claw back the damage we all create. All avenues of reduction of Co2 and Methane, as well as sequestering measures, should be openly discussed and implemented. | Jo |
| It is the lifeblood of the country. | Mark |
| All these issues should be aired on national radio and television documentaries in prime viewing time. | William |
| This Government is using incorrect information (purposely) to push it’s ideology regarding climate change. | Gifford |
| Only a nutter would think otherwise. Mind you, come to think of it, she is one. | Graeme |
| Like many I believe it’s more about redistribution of wealth in the world and this is the sideshow | Les |
| People need to speak out about this massive con by the present government. | Janet |
| Why is it that the farming sector takes such a meek (weak) acceptance of corrupt scientific data from successive governments? They should grow a collective spine and challenge the government to a public debate on the scientific facts. They have the power to force the government to the table so why haven’t they? Or are the farming leaders afraid of losing their invitations to Ballamys. | Rex |
| Does someone send Dr Newman’s articles to James Shaw, or can’t he read? | Rod |
| Agriculture removes carbon from the atmosphere is at worst neutral. Exotic forests that are harvested reduce carbon while Native vegetation in parks cannot be less than neutral. Answer. cut down all Native forests | Roger |
| Agriculture also provides carbon mitigations that are not included in the current calculations. These would make inclusion unnecessary. | Heather |
| Carbon emissions is a big scam and the only benefactors are big business tycoons like Al Gore who has just sold off 1.5 Billion dollars worth of carbon emission credits !! | Wayne |
| Really, nothing should be included…. | Howard |
| Agriculture is adding to our waterways becoming polluted leading to the loss of our Fish etc., | Shirley |
| This is FALSE information. WE are a small producer of CO2 and makes very little impact on the worlds levels. | Carl |
| Politicians are very gullible when it comes to being brain washed by so called climate scientists who chose to ignore the carbon cycle which is basically that every thing on earth, sooner or later, one way or another is recycled. Even the pyramids are decaying. Everything that lives, lives off something that once lived except parsites which live off the living! All the laws of physics say that it is NOT POSSIBLE for a cow to generate more matter , ie (GHG) in greater amounts than are contained in the feed and air that they consume .Cattle are actually a carbon sink in that part of the carbon that they consume is sequester in the meat and milk. Climate scientists chose to ignore these basic principles of life to suit their own dark green agenda! | Brian |
| It is too hard to quantify the level of emission from various farmed animals. | Wally |
| Junk science is rejected. | Ken |
| The emissions trading systems sound a bit flawed and an attempt to justify our continued over use of hydrocarbon fuels. | Paul |
| Once again faulty pseudo science is being used to justify more taxes. Jacinda and Labour must go we need a snap election to get them out before they totally wreck the country trying to look good on the world stage. | Fraser |
| The climate change and global warming is rubbish being promoted by a political agenda. | MAURICE |
| There shouldn’t even be an ETS | Arthur |
| They are very much part of our economy & should pay like everyone else !!! | Michael |
| NO ! Adern and attendant rabble would not understand the true situation in a thousand years. Anotrher socialist attempt to add more taxes on the population. We now have the most incompetent mob in power this country has ever witnessed. One word sums it all up “LABOUR” | David |
| C is cyclic.Agric is thus net sequestering , The accounting system is too long in C cycle representation. Bio-sphere is huge .Uncountable. Bias w’ld be massive. | Alan |
| Dairy farming has decimated our clean rivers and riverside land.here New Zealand all for the greed of money. | KT |
| This ETS is a clever ruse to extract yet more money from the general populace. All the arguments pro ‘climate change’ are — at least for the critical readers and listeners— inconclusive and smack of nothing but scare mongering — to say the least. Listen to National Radio( for example) reveals the incessant repetition of ‘climate change’arguments ( I would call these slogans and catch phrases) on a daily basis. This is brainwashing the less critical listeners into accepting this hogwash. Only when the negative economic backlash of this scam starts to hurt people’s finances then Jo Bloke will wake up and start to complain. But by then the damage is done and it will take enormous time and effort to fix the economic devastation left behind by these Labour /Green zealots. This government will not be in charge for a second term because 2 more years of this nonsense will be enough to push us to the limits . National should – for the sake of our well being– realize that they should extract NZ from any of the UN sanctioned ETS / Climate Change / Global Warming agenda and do what they are supposed to do : Work for the betterment of NZ’s. economic and social well being. | Michael |
| Just the emissions from one volcano, blow all of those theories away. not to mention all of the other items, such as all of the planes in the air continuously. | Roy |
| ETS is a sham with the global price for carbon probably still controlled by the Russian Mafia after they bought heavily into this scheme to aid their money laundering | Tom |
| This is getting beyond ridiculous and all for a political myth. Climate change has different cycles for different aspects of climate and if they happen to emerge then there is inclement weather. Cooling is just around the corner, but too late for some who have been ripped off. | Dave |
| There should be no ETS. | Steve |
| Are you trying to make NZ into a 3rd world country Cindy? | Mark |
| Will not make the slightest difference to Global Warming, ruin the farming industry and severely depress the NZ Economy | Alan |
| Going by Mr Jock Allison’s research analysis the idea of going carbon neutral in any way is not necessary. The question I have is, if we lessen Co2 will this have a detrimental effect on the plant growth as plants rely on Co2 and emit oxygen as a by product. Would I be correct in this thought. | BRUCE |
| First it was “global warming” caused by man burning fossil fuels. When the computer modelling was not borne out by what actually happened that was altered to “climate change” caused by man made “greenhouse gases”. Strangely, while it’s OK, it seems, to burn a renewable fuel like wood emitting CO2 in the process, it’s not OK for livestock to eat fodder crops including pasture and emit methane. I fail to see the difference except that methane is a more benign greenhouse gas than CO2 – the only source of the carbon in both these instances is (ultimately) the atmosphere. The whole business is absolute bullshit. | Alan |
| There should be No Agriculture in any Emissions Trading Scheme. There should be No Forestry in any Emissions Trading Scheme. There should be No NZ Emissions Trading Scheme. There should be No Party in Government that is fool enough to support a patently flawed Emissions Trading Scheme. There should be No Member permitted to take a seat in Government that supports a Foreign Ideology (including false evidence) over New Zealand’s best Interests, as that is clearly a illegal act of treason making that Member a criminal. | Richard |
| How to make NZs leading industry noncompetitive on the world stage. It beggars belief that the leader of this country would imperil the country for her ideology. She should be tried for treason.. | Willy |
| The whole ETS should be scrapped. At the best it is an Enormous Tree Subsidy, planting billions of trees that only pushes the non problem into the never never. . At the worst it is Extortion Theft and Swindle | Neil |
| Absolutely not. This government which includes the dopey greens with their cushy jobs in parliament needs to get jobs in the real world. They would not last 5 minutes as they would have to jump through all the hoops that they have private industry jump through. Any National voter who voted for Winston as a coalition partners for them must be ruing the day they did We now have a prime minister who is popular but God, only knows why. Perhaps it is because she is being Santa Claus to most people who want their entitlements increases | Colin |
| Clearly the whole climate mantra is a gigantic hoax. | Dave |
| CO2 is a food essential for life on earth | John |
| To be logical and fair then of course agriculture, and especially high intensity dairy farming, must be included in the “harmful gases” being produced in New Zealand. The real question we should be asking is whether there should be an Emissions Trading Scheme at all, and whether we in New Zealand should have a bar of it. Even including the incidental production of animal gases by the intensive dairy farms New Zealand’s contribution to the world’s carbon dioxide and methane is piffling. Further, if we give in to the green eco-idiots the whole country – not just the dairy farmers – will descend into destitution. The reality is that even when we have gone that far we will be able to watch countries like USA, India, Chine and, yes, even Germany which has been attempting to get the whole of Europe to reduce carbon emissions, carry on breaking those carbon emission limits anyway. Even if New Zealand is too stupid to realise it these countries will all know those emission limits are impossible to achieve without dooming their population to a new version of the dark ages. Politicians in those countries, at least, have sense enough to know their voters would never stand for that. | Rob |
| ETS is a con of global proportions | Catherine |
| No. The ETS is just a part of the big green con. The biggest racket that has ever been inflicted on mankind by mad, powerful and greedy charlatans. Ardern is not only showing her ignorance but is more than willing to ruin NZ’ers fiscally, in it’s name. The labour govt. are traitors, who must be removed for the good of every NZ’er. | John |
| Totally ridiculous assumption by a pm who wants to run with the hares and chase with the hounds | Sidwell |
| Global warming is a scam, I think! | Ian |
| all contributors should be looked into | Gerard |
| It is disgraceful that this government is hell bent on sacrificing our economy to idealistic nonsense that will have zero effect on climate. Where is the great Professor Sir Peter Gluckman on this issue? | Geoff |
| …agriculture is the factory floor of New Zealand…Food for the WORLD will always be a number ONE. | CHowes |
| I can also see this govt. taking RUC of petrol and including in a form of rego the same as diesel. | Graham |
| Emissions trading scheme, what a load of felonious crap, pardon the Pun. So selling off or trading what ever commodity helps Emissions. All this pales into insignificance when a Volcano erupts. | Geoff |
| The whole emissions trading scheme is a scam and is masking the UN agenda which has nothing to do with the “man made climate change” lie. Time for the UN to go. If I was involved in government, this country would remove itself from the UN and join Donald with common sense approach to country economics. | Neil |
| We shouldn’t even have one. | Steve |
| Scrap the Emissions Trading Scheme-a truly dumb idea! | Roger |
| Doomsayers abound in this space – rely on the true science, not that generated by political activists like Greenpeace, Twig and Tweet, Envionmental Protection Society and fellow travelers. | Andrew |
| My note of opinion got lost in this computer..I shall just add again, NO> | Mabel |
| If NZers stopped believing the pop press and the uneducated parliamentarians who are now telling us what to do, we, and the farmers, would all be a whole lot better off and with a liveable future to add to that. | Mabel |
| The whole scheme is a rort !!!! Trillions of dollars have been spent since 1988 in what is one of the greatest cons of all time. Have they stopped China building it’s 300 new coal fired power stations — no. If they look at what does cause climate change they underestimate the suns effect plus natural methane and other natural emissions that man has nothing to do with and cannot change. | Alan |
| This is a sham. Capitalist bashing again. Take money off those in business – creating wealth for the country to prosper & just give it away to non-productive sectors – STUPID! | Simon |
| Nobody and Nothing should be included in this Global Warming farce !! It is a Scam run by the United Nations to earn revenue !! | Pierre |
| Nothing should be included as the whole scheme is BS, and the only result will be more control and more taxing of us. CO2 is essential for life and there would be no biomass without it. | Larry |
| NIWA’s website shows the highest tide was in 1830. 300mm higher than this years highest tides. 1850 and 1900 the highest tides were the same as this years highest. Other years the same or less. We’re being duped about rising tides and climate change. Record tides have been created by weather events coinciding with more g tides, nothing more. Perhaps in some cases the land is sinking due to tectonic plate movement, nothing less. | Trevor |
| Scare mongering has been going on for years. How intelligent pepole can be sucked in to all the clap trap is unbelieveable. | Dennis |
| No way. Ardern and zero emissions commitment just shows her blind dream to save the world when she and her rabble of of a government are doing their best to ruin this Country.THE WORST AND MOST EMBARRASSING PM THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER HAD | Don |
| Only a self absorbed nutter with. Second agenda would try to add agriculture to the scheme. The same goes for the secheme as a whole. | Wayne |
| The pastures are a large carbon sink | errol |
| The whole Emission Trading Scheme is (I believe) very dubious at best. It has been bolstered and promoted by the very blinkered left leaning One World Governance United Nations. Methane is irrelevant as a Greenhouse Gas and CO2 massively encourages green foliage production for world wide food production. Impartial research science records show Global Warming and Sea Level Rise is almost negligible. Several ‘doomsdays’ have been and gone – earthquakes are active everywhere. That’s called “nature at work.” | Stuart |
| still worth trying to hold as is tho | DAve |
| Agriculture should not be included this whole ting is a scam why is it only NZ to be going over board on this Australia building coal fire electric power stations so there smoke will blow over here just like there bush fire smoke so who pays for that | Russell |
| Including agriculture in an ETS would lead to drastic economic harm while at the same time having a negligible effect on global warming | Richard |
| The E.T.S. should be scrapped entirely. How can even the indoctrinated sheeple that are too mentally lazy to do any research, still blindly follow the lying leaders who peddle this garbage, when not one of Al Gores predictions have come true. No more snow after 2015 he said, yet currently record levels of snow for October are being recorded in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, & NZ is still getting snow & we are only one month away from Summer. What is really behind this B.S., U.N. globalist agenda to redistribute the wealth of SUCCESSFUL nations.. | A.G.R. |
| Why should there be an emssions trading scheme at all? | Anthony |
| Global warming is just a cycle the world is going through. | Terry |
| The ETS and all this Global Warming scaremongering is just total BS So NO NO NO | Robin |
| On that basis it should also include the population based to, as humans also pass “wind” frequently | Alan |
| Just a ruse to make money for some people, never mind about the suffering that it could cause | Graham |
| U Emissions; usual daft scheming bereft of valid thought | Collin |
| Jacinda gets worse every day | Gillian |
| It’s our golden apple | Charles |
| Absolutely not – the whole thing is based on shoddy science and should be scrapped. | Noel |
| Global warming is the biggest scam in world history. The public should rise up against any changes to reduce living standards. | Gay |
| Jacinda Ardern is a disgrace pushing this zero carbon agenda. She doesn’t care one iota how badly it will impact on households – as long as she gets her accolades on the world stage. Sickening! | Roger |
| No the ETS will be the final nail in the coffin for farmers – then the country will really turn on the government when food prices start to soar and the economy tanks. | Anthony |
| Bring on the next election so we can get rid of these clowns. | Simon |