Debate on Prime Minister's Statement
Address to Parliament
Tuesday 09 February 2010

Mr Speaker, I want to point to three areas in the Prime Minister’s address where this Government is getting it wrong, and where, as a result, New Zealand is being held back - research and development, climate change, and energy and resources.

I’ll start with research and development.  Mr Key said in his speech that “science and innovation are..key elements of the Government’s economic agenda, both this year and into the future”.

So just how has this the Government demonstrated its commitment to science and innovation?  The facts are that it began by dumping $700m worth of existing investment in innovation in the primary sector.  Then it went on to cut $300m from research and tax credits for research and development.

As Phil Goff reminded the House earlier today, National did this while Australia was increasing its research and development expenditure by 25%.

If the House needed evidence that National’s stated goal of “catching up with Australia” is nothing more than a Crosby Textor strapline, here is that evidence.  Under its Labor Government, Australia is investing in key areas, while National pays lip service to them.

I attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, and I saw more of this lip service, Mr Speaker.  As it became apparent that the Conference would not make the progress hoped for, Tim Groser scheduled a press conference to announce the grandly named Global Agriculture Fund, a cooperative mechanism between countries to look for solutions to greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

Let’s compare the so-called Global Agriculture Fund to Labour’s initiative in this area - the Fast Forward Fund.  Announced in March 2009, the Fast Forward Fund saw the New Zealand Government commit $700 million.  One purpose of the Fund was to create new technologies to reduce agricultural emissions.  After including earnings from interest, the $700m contribution from the Government would likely have reached $1 billion over the planned term of the Fund.  Matched with funding from our pastoral and food sector industries, this PPP would have resulted in a $2 billion investment in primary production-based intellectual property, owned by Kiwis.

That IP would in all likelihood have seen us perfect emissions reduction technology to the benefit of our own emissions profile and the enhancement of our international reputation.  It would also have allowed us to exploit the technology developed commercially on the international market, at potentially significant profit, as well as giving aid in terms of technology transfer to food-producing developing countries.

But National scrapped the Fast Forward Fund, along with tax credits for research and development after coming into office.  And confirmed GAF funding at the time of Tim Groser’s announcement – under $200m – just pales by comparison to the $2 billion that would have been available under the Fast Forward Fund.  Worse, the multinational nature of the Global Agriculture Fund will inevitably mean that New Zealand won't own the results of any research paid for by it. 

So, as well as there being substantially less money for investment in the reduction of emissions from agriculture, New Zealand will be poorer because we lose the opportunity to sell or share emissions reduction technology in our singular area of expertise on our own terms.  Here is National’s commitment to research and development, in a key area for New Zealand – reducing our agricultural emissions so we can do our bit on climate change.  Divide the assistance that would have been made available by 10, and then make sure that New Zealand can’t control the outcomes of the research.

A future Labour-led Government will not take such a short-sighted approach, Mr Speaker.  We will restore adequate support for research and development, and we will make sure that it is directed at addressing New Zealand’s problems, and making New Zealand wealthier.

Turning to John Key’s promise to “unlock New Zealand's resources, let’s consider what was said.  The Prime Minister confirmed that areas will be removed from Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act to allow for mining”.  Today, he made it clear that, whenever we hear the expression “unlocking New Zealand’s resources”, he means mining our National Parks. 
What he really did was confirm that National has no forward looking plan for New Zealand’s future.  Where was there any mention of our renewables advantage?  Where was John Key, the Minister of Tourism’s - celebration of the 100% Pure Brand?  Why was there a complete absence of any discussion of the possibilities of clean technology investment, and all the jobs that they can create?  Where is the vision beyond Gerry Brownlee’s desire to just dig things up and send them offshore to be burned?

Philip Mills, Lloyd Morrison, George Fistonich, Geoff Ross, Stephen Tindall, Rob Fenwick, Rob Fyfe and Jeremy Moon wrote to MPs last week about these possibilities.  They included this book – The Clean Industrial Revolution – with their letter, and I want to place my thanks on the record for their correspondence.  These people – some of our country’s leading businessmen – remind us that New Zealand’s future should be focused on sustainable growth.  They remind us that sustainable growth is not achieved by focusing on economic goals over environmental and social outcomes.  Sustainable growth requires an integrated policy of growth that merges economic, environmental and social outcomes to ensure the needs of the present are met and does not compromise the prosperity and quality of life of future generations.

Mining National Parks and other high value conservation land completely ignores environmental and conservation issues and the benefits New Zealanders derive from activities in our National Parks and the conservation estate.  Areas included within Schedule 4 have been identified as having high conservation value.  That is why Schedule 4 protects this land by preventing access for mining.  Going down this path undermines New Zealand’s brand as ‘clean and green’.  It endangers New Zealand’s tourism industry.  It undermines our future.  What a tragedy that the National Government – only a year in office – is already deaf to these leading businesspeople and the exciting future vision that they articulate.

My commitment as a Labour Spokesperson is that the next Labour-led Government will not be deaf to this jobs-rich vision for a clean and prosperous future.  Mr Speaker, we will embrace it.