Press Release: New Conservative
Standing with the farmers, New Conservative is committed to pushing back against the lunacy of the ETS and Carbon Zero commitments by this government.
New Conservative is concerned the Carbon Zero Bill will have little, if any, measurable benefits to New Zealand, while at the same time seriously impinge on the sustainability of our food and goods production.
New Conservative has consistently stood behind its commitment to remove New Zealand from the Paris Accord and to abandon the ETS, diverting the billions of dollars lost overseas to developing real pollution solutions for our waterways, our air, and our land.
The recent passing of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019, highlights the failure of this Government to represent the best interests of New Zealanders.
“New Zealand is a nation of creative and brilliant minds who have led the world repeatedly with our innovative solutions. We are not a nation that needs to buy into international influences, but we are a nation that can take the lead and contribute to good environmental outcomes,” says Leighton Baker, New Conservative leader.
New Zealand farming could already be net carbon zero if they were allowed to calculate all the carbon that is sequestered by all the plants that grow on their farms.
“Instead of acknowledging the enormous efforts already made by the farming community, this Government only includes plantation forests in its calculations. This neglects all the native plants, hedgerows, trees, crops etc on farms,” says Mr Baker.
Mr Baker observes that ignoring the investment farmers have made is similar to expecting businesses to survive if they had to pay all the GST they collect to the government, but were unable to deduct GST already paid to suppliers.
“We cannot make farmers accountable for all the CO2 they produce without deducting all that they sequester,” adds Mr Baker.
New Conservative is standing by the farmers and is determined to see that all New Zealanders are protected from being driven further away from pollution solutions by unproven initiatives that have enormous financial impacts.
“New Zealand’s ‘nuclear free moment’ is when we stand up against pressures from larger powers to protect our way of life and prioritise what we value. That will be when we stand up for our sovereignty and refuse to be influenced by ineffective international agreements,” concludes Mr Baker.