Another welcome to the members who have joined up this week.
We have had more success getting mainstream with a radio interview I did with Larry Williams on Newstalk ZB.
The focus was on election spending and Larry was interviewing me about Labour’s claim that it is going to get $800m from farmers to fund its R & D policy.
The problem with the ETS is that few understand it, including most journalists, and that is why the journalists don’t challenge Phil Goff on his claim. I explained to Larry and the listeners that when farmers have to pay for their emissions they will have to buy things called NZ Units from someone like a forester. The forester is given these NZ Units by the Govt on the basis of one NZU for every tonne of CO2 they are supposed to have sequestered. The foresters will get the $800m off the farmers, it does not go to the Government.
The Govt gives out these NZ Units at no cost to them or the taxpayer. There is no limit to how many they give out, as the ETS is a cap and trade scheme without the cap. If they want more NZ Units they just go to the photocopier and print more.
What most people don’t seem to understand is that until livestock emissions are brought into the ETS there is no cost to these emissions, so farmers are not being subsidised by the taxpayer. It is like saying that from 2015 every time someone crosses the road they will have to pay a $1 to the Govt as a tax. Until 2015 no one has to pay anything, the fact that no one is paying now does not constitute a subsidy because the liability does not exist yet.
I wasn’t able to explain our main argument about the harmless nature of livestock emissions because that was not the focus of the interview, but Larry did read pre interview a 2500 word outline I wrote explaining everything from the mechanism of the ETS, Kyoto, the harmless nature of bio emissions and more. So I am hopeful he will contact me in future about these issues if they come up.
Not normal to comment on general politics as I am sure we have all political party’s supported by our membership, but I will have a go without upsetting everyone.
Labour and the Greens have virtually declared war on farmers with Goff’s ETS scheme expected to cost farmers 30 to 50 % of net income and the Labour Green lots’ water policy another $50000 per year I believe.
National has signalled it may delay agriculture’s entry of bio emissions into the ETS further. This is nonsense, they should be removed. Farmers need certainty like any business, Nick Smith said this when justifying leaving agriculture in the ETS, yet now he has switched from promoting certainty to promoting uncertainty for 3 more years at least. If he is too scared to remove bio emissions now with National high in the polls, can you imagine how scared they will be when the next review occurs in 2014 and National is seeking an unlikely 3rd term, scary stuff.
That is why what we are doing is so important, if National survive this election we have 3 years to change their mind and get livestock emissions entry to the ETS not delayed but removed. Our study will help that. Once Labour get back in, and they will one day, our job will be harder. Having said that I still find it incredulous that National is so timid on this, they know what we say about the science is right. Leighton Smith said on his radio the other day that any Nelson voters who voted for Nick Smith were not welcome as his listeners. It was a little tongue in cheek but underlining it was an honest feeling that Smith has and is doing NZ incredible harm. Mind you why is his boss letting him?
I received a phone call from Feilding, apparently the new National candidate there is on record rubbishing the ETS for the scam that it is. Any farmers in the area might want to go to the next candidates meeting and ask him some curly questions.
NZ First want to dump the ETS. This is a bit rich considering it was only because of the support they gave to Helen Clark in the dying days of her government, that we got an ETS. I think it was a trade Peters did so as not to get fired for lying.
The Conservatives want to dump the ETS and so does ACT. ACT is the only one of these two likely to be able to achieve anything, thanks to a cup of tea in Epsom. I have been feeding Don Nicholson information, he is their Primary Industry spokesman, and he and the other farmers on the list (including me) are pretty determined to get bio emissions removed from the ETS permanently.
Having said all that, we don’t only want a political resolution, we want a scientific one to achieve the certainty that no political party will play cat and mouse with farm bio emissions ever again. The fund raising is going well. Lots of interest.