Emission Trading Scam is an utter failure

A costly exercise in hypocrisy
OPINION: The Government has made an utter mockery of the emissions trading scheme. Such is National's abuse of policy-making, consultation and parliamentary process, the country will pay dearly for the government's ETS mistakes for years to come.

Prime Minister John Key should care enough to stop the nonsense, even if motivated only by National's political self-interest.

If you want a flavour of the shambles created by Climate Change Minister Dr Nick Smith and endorsed by the prime minister, download the report on the legislation by the finance and expenditure select committee at www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/SC/Documents/Reports/.

The committee was supposed to consider submissions on the extensive changes to the ETS the government proposed, gather analysis from Treasury and other expert witnesses, and make appropriate changes to the bill before sending it back to parliament.

Instead, the committee, chaired by Craig Foss of National, failed to execute all three of its tasks. Unable to produce a majority report, it sent the bill back without a single amendment. Instead the report consists only of minority reports from each of the parties represented on the committee.

That's Rod Oram ripping the Government a new one over this appalling Emissions Trading Scam that National have rammed through under urgency last night with help from a bribed Maori Party...

Maori Party rift widens over ETS
Cracks are appearing in the Maori Party over controversial climate change laws that will see taxpayers subsidise big polluters. Changes passed into law yesterday to the former Labour government's emissions trading scheme have delayed the scheme by six months and shifted a greater share of the costs from big polluters on to the taxpayer. The Government has halved projected power and petrol price rises under Labour's scheme. It says loading too big a cost on business risks "snuffing out" a fragile economic recovery. But the deal could come at a political cost for the Maori Party, with grassroots members questioning its support for the measures. The party is already divided over MP Hone Harawira, who has been outspoken in his criticism of National's emissions trading scheme. He is on leave after falling foul of the party over recent outbursts.

...what a shameful day for the Maori Party to support subsidizing corporate big polluters and deny NZ do anything more meaningful for climate change. This Emission Trading Scam does NOTHING to prevent climate change it simply put a hundred Billion of our dollars into the pockets of big polluters.

We are not clean and green, this scam is an abomination.

How is that change feeling that everyone voted for last November?