There are just over 20 days left to send the Government a message that you are not prepared to accept the economic consequences of their Zero Carbon Bill.
The consultation documents accompanying the Bill show the policies come at a very high economic cost to all New Zealanders. Their modelling forecasts that by 2050, the economy would be at least a quarter smaller, that the burden will fall disproportionately on lower income households, and that the output of emissions-intensive industries such as sheep, beef, and dairy farming, will be halved.
With that economic prospect ahead it’s no wonder Winston Peters tried to distance himself from the future when he announced his choice of the new Government: “We in New Zealand First believe that an economic correction, or a slowdown, is looming…”
While he said he was foreshadowing the downturn so as not to get blamed when it arrives, the reality is that he is very much to blame. Winston Peters is only political leader in our country’s history to have allowed the radical agenda of the Greens to become law. All other political leaders, who have been in a position to choose a coalition, have elected to leave the extremist Greens out of any Ministerial line up. Winston Peters, however, ignored the risk when he crowned Labour and opened the door to the radical Greens.
The reality is that the ideologically driven Climate Change Minister James Shaw, who is on a moral crusade to save the planet, is blind to the economic harm his policies will inevitably cause.
At no time during the election campaign did Labour or the Greens attempt to outline the full details of the wealth cost of their Carbon Zero policy. Even now, when the policy implications are being disclosed and the costs are becoming clear, they are continuing to down-play the cost and claim benefits when there are none.
No party has the right to introduce policies to destroy a country’s economic future without clearly spelling out their intentions during an election campaign.
Since Labour and the Greens did not do that, their Zero Carbon Bill should be rejected in the strongest possible way.
James Shaw announced the consultation on his Bill using his typical weasel words.
In spite of there being no real-life evidence that dangerous man-made global warming exists, James Shaw continues to attribute all manner of natural events to global warming: “But the frequency and the severity of storms, coastal and river flooding, droughts and wildfires is increasing, and will continue to increase as long as we and the rest of the world keep putting greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere… Sea level rise alone puts at risk, five airports, 46 kilometres of railway, 1,100 kilometres of road and nearly 70,000 buildings, with a replacement cost of $19 billion.”
His exaggerated claims have no basis in fact, and are no better than the sensationalist predictions from United Nations’ climate models that have proven to be grossly inaccurate for over twenty years – models used by former US Vice President Al Gore and the UN Environmental Programme to claim that sea level rise would engulf cities around the world and create 50 million climate refugees by 2010!
James Shaw is not only dishonest with his fear-mongering predictions of gloom, he is also dishonest about the economic benefits of de-carbonisation, which he claims will provide “an extraordinary opportunity to upgrade our economy, not just to be ‘clean and green’, but also more productive and better paid”.
But rather than quantifying the benefits, he refers to “the costs if we do nothing”. The truth is there is no rational argument in support of his policy position. It’s a policy built on fear.
James Shaw’s ‘clean’ and ‘green’ economy doesn’t exist – it’s a false prophecy. Wind and solar power, which he heralds as the clean green saviours of the future, depend on mining and smelting. A 3 metre wind turbine contains over 300 tonnes of steel, 5 tonnes of copper, 1200 tonnes of concrete, 3 tonnes of aluminium and 2 tonnes of rare earths – where mining one tonne of rare earths produces 200 cubic metres of acid waste water. Solar panels contain arsenic, aluminium, boron, cadmium, copper, gallium, indium, molybdenum, phosphorous, selenium, silica, silver, steel, tellurium, and titanium.
California’s obsession with sustainable energy has led to escalating power prices and massive power cuts, while Spain’s love affair with renewable energy has also ended badly, failing to provide affordable power or security of supply, despite decades of government subsidies.
James Shaw wants 95 percent of cars and 50 percent of trucks electrified by 2050, but has yet to provide any details – including how New Zealand is expected to generate sufficient clean green energy to power all of the batteries. Will he force people to comply with his world view by raising the carbon levy on each litre of petrol from the present 4.7 cents to over 55 cents – as predicted by the Productivity Commission – or will he do it by increasing the annual registration levies on petrol and diesel vehicles.
To see the folly of ‘clean green’ policies, one needs look no further than the government’s disgraceful decision to ban future oil and gas exploration. With domestic supplies of natural gas dwindling, and without the ability to discover new reserves – New Zealand’s importation of natural gas from distant overseas markets will eventually lead to an overall increase in emissions.
Labour exposed its reckless approach to governance when it dictated that the industry would close – without any prior warning, any costings, or any consultation – just so the Prime Minister could look decisive on the world stage. It remains one of the key reasons why Kiwi businesses cannot trust this government and why business confidence is declining.
So why would James Shaw, Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters impose ideological policies onto New Zealand that have failed overseas? Why would they put our future at risk for a theory – for that’s all man-made global warming is?
To reiterate, there remains no real-life evidence that dangerous man-made global warming exists. The weather events that James Shaw likes to highlight as being proof of runaway climate change are not outside the bounds of natural variability.
During the Medieval Warm Period, the earth was far warmer than it is today, and during the Little Ice Age, far cooler. Carbon dioxide levels have been far higher than now, and far lower. Species continue to evolve as they always have, with some dying out and others adapting and flourishing. Storms have been fiercer and more frequent than the present, as have floods and every other adverse weather event. The climate is chaotic, but no more, nor less, than it’s ever been.
Furthermore, while carbon is classed as “pollution” by some, it remains essential for life on earth. Although the actual levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are miniscule, it plays an essential role in the food chain. All plants and animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, but through photosynthesis in the presence of green chlorophyll and water, plants are able to capture the sun’s energy and carbon dioxide and store them as food, releasing oxygen in the process.
Yet Green socialists, intent on destroying economic growth and prosperity, have convinced politicians around the world that carbon dioxide is their enemy.
There is no doubt that at some stage in the future, sanity will again prevail and the current climate extremism will be relegated to the dustbin of history.
But in the meantime, how do we stop the politicians from destroying our economy and undermining our living standards?
One practical step is to encourage everyone who shares these concerns to express their views through the Zero Carbon Bill consultation. It’s open until 5pm on the 19th of July, and feedback can be provided through the website questionnaire HERE – or by directly emailing ZCB@mfe.govt.nz.
The Zero Carbon Bill will create a vast bureaucracy: A Climate Change Commission, ‘emissions budgets’, climate change adaptation plans, and emissions targets.
The Bill presents three options for emissions targets for 2050. The first would regulate only carbon dioxide, the second carbon dioxide and methane, and the third carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and any other gases they can find.
The second and third options are designed to target farmers, as environmental extremists want to see stock numbers reduced and farming limited as an economic activity.
While most methane in New Zealand is produced by ruminants digesting food, it is not the problem the activists are making it out to be. Soil scientist, Dr Doug Edmeades, explains:
“Methane is short-lived in the atmosphere. It hangs around for about 10 years before it is converted to CO2. For every unit of carbon the animal emits as CH4 it must ingest the same amount of carbon from its plant-based feed source, which, comes initially from the CO2 in the atmosphere. The animal is both the source of the carbon in methane and it is also the sink for the equivalent amount of carbon in CO2. In this sense the carbon-methane cycle – methane-to-CO2-to-forage-plants-to-animals-to-methane – is a closed cycle. The animal is CH4-carbon neutral.”
Dr Edmeades is right – and his finding illustrates only too clearly why climate science, like all science, is never ‘settled’, with new discoveries continually improving our knowledge and understanding.
Since livestock are carbon neutral, methane from agriculture should not be included in emissions targets. Without methane, New Zealand will have one of the smallest greenhouse gas emissions profiles in the developed world.
In fact, no gases should be included in emissions targets, because just like the Emissions Trading Scheme, James Shaw’s proposed Zero Carbon Bill will create a costly nightmare of red tape and bureaucracy that will waste time and money, drag down the economy, and destroy businesses and jobs – all for no benefit.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator is former Reserve Bank economist Michael Reddell, who shares his analysis of the economic modelling that has been carried out on the Zero Carbon Bill. He also expresses astonishment at what is actually being proposed:
“I guess these targets are advocated by zealots, but even the zealots surely recognise that what New Zealand does is not going to change the climate, and that many countries already richer and more productive than we are are proposing adjustments that are materially less costly or demanding than what the New Zealand government is proposing here. I am not suggesting we can or should do nothing – there is some minimum effort probably required to ward off the threat of trade sanctions – but surely on any reasonable cost-benefit assessment of the interests of New Zealanders, we would be confronting these costs – the wilfully given up opportunities for our kids and grandchildren – and pulling back?
“I would be surprised if ever before in history a democratic government has consulted on proposals to reduce the material wellbeing of its own people by up to 25 per cent. Wars, of course, come at a very considerable cost – and sometimes are worth fighting – but again, I doubt any democracy (or perhaps even any tyranny) ever entered a war thinking that as a result of doing so they would be so much poorer 30 years on. It is simply a breathtaking proposition – the more so in a country that at the moment struggles to achieve any material productivity growth at all.”
So, what should we, the people, do?
We need to push-back against the Bill and James Shaw’s moral crusade. Anyone who cares about New Zealand and our economic future should say no to emissions target. Doing nothing is not an option.
Regrettably, instead of taking a lead and standing up against the extremist madness of the Greens and this Bill, National’s new leader Simon Bridges has decided to support it. And without a Donald Trump – who had the courage to reject climate scaremongering and threats and put the wellbeing of his country and its people first – it’s up to us! Don’t forget, submissions close July 19.
THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
Do you support the Government’s plan to significantly reduce the material wellbeing of New Zealanders through their Zero Carbon Bill?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| This Government proves itself everyday by its idiotic utterings to be crazy. They think up so much unworkable nonsense. The ‘Zero Carbon’ agenda will not change the Climate one speck. How do they think that they’d like the Climate to be exactly? They never tell us that. But they want to charge us for something that’s unachievable. | John |
| Regrettably the populist appeal to the unthinking masses is likely to ensure that the present band of loony lefties is in power for several electoral cycles | Peetr |
| Do-gooders who want to ruin our economy by playing the so-called heroes | Lou |
| The Greens are simply idiots who do not consider the consequences of their crazy ideas. For Labour to go along with them, shows that they are just as stupid and have not bothered to investigate the Greens false claims on “climate change”. | Gifford |
| The “Killing our economy” report by Dr Newman says it all | Richard |
| This Government is riddled with bad policies and costs which will increase inflation markedly.This article requires greater publicity. | Richard |
| Crazy to bring this policy in without discussion with the relative sector those affected | Bev |
| Just another excuse to divert economic value from those that create wealth to the watermelons. | Chris |
| These guys are mad. | Ann |
| Common sense must prevail. | Karen |
| It’s a fairy-tale story, dreamed up by green-coloured Fairies | Carl |
| It’s time for a NO CONFIDENCE vote in the government & to email Simon Bridges & to state your views on him supporting the “Greens Bill” | Cindy |
| There have been times in the past where the climate has been colder but CO2 has been higher according to Antarctic ice records | Garry |
| Dangerous leftist Green rubbish. Without carbon we could not exist. | Bruce |
| Global Warming is a SCAM, introduced by the United Nations, and now used to extort Billions of Dollars from Various Countries. Contact Donald Trump to find out why he withdrew from this fiasco !! | Pierre |
| I could not put it better than this! I would be surprised if ever before in history a democratic government has consulted on proposals to reduce the material wellbeing of its own people by up to 25 per cent. Wars, of course, come at a very considerable cost, and sometimes are worth fighting, but again, I doubt any democracy (or perhaps even any tyranny) ever entered a war thinking that as a result of doing so they would be so much poorer 30 years on. It is simply a breathtaking proposition, the more so in a country that at the moment struggles to achieve any material productivity growth at all. | AJ |
| The lunatics are in charge of the asylum, crazy deluded politically correct idiots like Shaw can run riot and say what they like. Will the country survive until the next election and will kiwis finally wake up? Will the coming rampant inflation, loss of jobs, old people dying of cold in the winter because they can’t afford a new woodburner, etc be enough? Who knows? Only just recently noticed that the Dominion Post newspaper now has a maori name. This country is becoming someone else’s fantasy and reality will be a hard rock to crash on. | Bob |
| It’s just a load of crap that will be pushed through by the looney left | Laurie |
| The Minister for Climate Change has produced a “Discussion” Document that only wishes to discuss what is to be encompassed in the Zero Emission Bill, not whether we should be taking the draconian path he is set down for New Zealand with the fervour of the most rabid of zealots. He and his followers are trying to have us embark on the most anti-human piece of legislation our Country has ever seen. Nowhere does the document indicate an achievable plan that sees all hydrocarbon based energy being replaced by supposedly “renewable” energy sources. New Zealand has already ruled out any involvement with Nuclear Energy and our hydro resources are all-but fully developed now. Not one nation has yet to claim they have the ability to replace hydrocarbons with solar/wave/wind generated energy. Indeed Germany and the Scandinavian nations who were at the forefront of developing these sources have admitted it will not be achievable. How is all this additional electrical energy required to replace hydrocarbon based energy going to be generated? The short answer seems to be that it won’t and our economy must inevitably contract. Einstein claimed that there are only two things that were infinite – The Universe and Human Stupidity. Surely we are now embarked on confirming the latter. The Minister makes the claim that 97% of climatologists agree that human use of hydrocarbons and the release of CO2 is to blame for global warming and thus there is consensus. As it turns out this figure was derived from the analysis of some 11,000 ABSTRACTS. Only those abstracts that specifically addressed the accelerating levels of CO2 were included. Of the total number of abstracts included, only approximately 33% qualified and of these, 97% supported the premise that rising CO2 levels were contributing to Global Warming. So this supposed “Consensus” is not a consensus at all but in reality 32.2% of the study base indicating agreement. In the Minister’s promotion of the proposed “Act” he talks about 70 cm rise in sea levels. Analyses of tidal heights in New Zealand over the last 100 years indicate there has been approximately a 10.2 cm rise. The Australians were concerned about the lack of data so they installed some 18 stations to measure tidal heights. They have since removed them all as they were unable to detect any rise. Whilst the oceans may ultimately rise 70 cm, I would defy any oceanographer or climatologist to say over what period this will occur. The IPCC, which our Minister and Al Gore place their faith, has yet to produce a model that is able to predict the future (or the past) with any accuracy. The supposed massive accelerated rise in temperature illustrated by the famed “Hockey Stick” was only able to be achieved by falsification/manipulation of data. CO2 density in the atmosphere has risen from 310 ppm in 1958 to 400ppm in 2017. I have yet to find the data which indicates the sensitivity of Global Temperature to CO2 density but intuitively I would find it hard to believe that an increase of 0.00009% would have the effect being claimed and be the driving force for the contraction in our economy being proposed. Equally I have yet to find what density of CO2 the Alarmists would have us achieve. The Minister’s “Discussion” Document, seems to base all its authority on models using the GIGO principle [Garbage In – Garbage Out]. A review of solar irradiance and water vapour indicates a much closer correlation to actual hemispherical composite temperature and perhaps this should be further examined before embarking on a path that would have us give up our greatest source of concentrated energy, hydrocarbons. I certainly do not share the climate change zealot view that reducing our GDP by over 20% is responsible government! | Michael |
| National are globalists. Ironically, national populism is the new counter-culture, sweeping new policies and rational governments into power all over the West. New Zealand will be left standing when the Leftist music stops. | Christopher |
| Eco-Marxist globalism uses a variety f weapons. One is open borders, the other is climatism. Wreck a national identity and cultural security with open borders, or wreck and economy with climatism. The end results look much the same. | Maurice |
| Get rid of the Greens and their extremist views. Whilst you’re about it get rid of the minority Prime Minister who doesn’t have an electorate. | Chris |
| I don’t necessarily go along with the idea of “climate scaremongering”, as you just have to look at things like the giant island of plastic waste floating in the Pacific, and the fact that plastic is becoming virtually impossible to recycle economically scares me a lot, but I think these targets need to be staged and realistic. Zero carbon – ain’t gonna happen in my lifetime, and I think there are other things that should take precedence over this, such as homelessness, poverty, or affordable heating. It’s 9 degrees in my totally unheatable flat at 12.20pm, and I can’t have a fireplace installed, apparently. Against some regulation somewhere, it seems. | Andy |
| At the rate this Gvt is heading we will be losing N Z as we know it –they want to rule us with their agendas | Marylin |
| “Climate change” is a natural phenomenon, not man made and current MPs have no mandate to proceed with their ill conceived, fatally flawed and reckless (in terms of its inevitable detrimental effect on the NZ economy) proposed Zero Carbon Bill. | Kathryn |
| Politicians are deluded if they think that they can change the climate. The world needs carbon dioxide for the healthy growth of plants. | Allan |
| If only our idiot politicians would look at the real facts www.climatedepot.com Doesn’t help that our lefty media are brainwashing and scaring every person who cant think for themselves, which is way too many unfortunately! | Maree |
| www.climatedepot.com contains some interesting facts on climate change that show a very different story to the one we are being fed by the Greens and mainstream media | |
| This proposed Bill has NO mandate from the voters of New Zealand and the GC must be petitioned to dissolve parliament so that a new election must be held before such a policy promoted by a party with less than 5% support can be allowed to impose it’s extremist views. This is a complete denial of the democratic principles on which New Zealand as a country has been governed since its foundation | James |
| Plain stupid it worries me that we have these idiot people running our country. They have no business acumen or experience to speak of all are mostly carrer politicians, They will drive the country to ruin. Already Europe and the UK are unable to walk the CO2 talk, do they not consider this when making decisions. I am absolutely disgusted with them. | Vaughan |
| It’s unbelievable to that so-called informed people would plunge our country headlong into a scheme that will result in economic carnage. We cannot stand by and let this happen!!! | Marilyn |
| Bridges to Nowhere Simon needs to be replaced by someone with leadership skills and doesn’t condone this zero carbon rubbish. Then we need an proper election to rid ourselves of the dangerous Greens, Tooth Fairy PM and the other PM forever. | Monica |
| We are insane to take radical means while the big emitting countries dwarf our output. | Mal |
| Yet another load of feel good politicians who are out of touch with the needs of New Zealand to prosper. | Mike |
| Absolute rubbish from greens , united nations and now Simon Bridges support to them through national party… Very disappointed to hear of this cozzing up to greens by bridges & not shared by many many of national supporters. I think a breakaway party should be formed to counter these misinformation claims. | Rex |
| Absolute insanity! | John |
| Woolly thinking from a noddy government | Russ |
| While I object to intensive dairying, I do not condemn the dairy industry’s contribution to carbon emissions. There is lots that should be done to make farming safer and more sustainable. Let the Greens focus on those sorts of measures rather than pies in the sky. | Peter |
| It is well past time the “group think” in Wellington, on the topic of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming was challenged and defeated. A National Government who says “stop this BS” would take power… would lead to a severe draining of the Wellington Swamp. | Murray |
| False science is a worldwide scourge | Catherine |
| They live on another planet,no resalism | W Jones |
| A certain path to ruin | Craig |
| nz’ers will learn the hard way, Labour is toast | Mathew |
| Definitely conflict of interest. | Don |
| Never support idiots both green and brown | James |
| This government is just a bunch of wacko idealists lacking any credibility all thanks to Peters who wanted the baubles of office in his LAST term Like Auckland we are being run by incompetent idiots who would not get a job in the real world. When election time comes will Kiwis vote responsibly ,those of us responding to Muriel’s question will yes but all the bludgers,losers,maoris and bums will not they will vote for our wako handout so called rulers | Don |
| There is not a shred of scientific evidence for either rising temps or climate change let alone cause for either | Bill |
| This is lunacy – our children will inherit a country that is not worth having and a standard of living that will be close to third world | Guy |
| green madness | Karen |
| The closest politician we had to Donald Trump was Winston Peters, but to get to sit in the Prime Minister’s chair for 6 weeks he has turned into AL Gore. | Russell |
| The madness continues, NZ needs another Trumpy and a good dose of common sense | Geoff |
| I am incensed by this current bunch of losers that are destroying our country. By bunch of losers, I mean this cobbled together coalition which is currently warming the seats in Parliament. In my mind Shaw should be tried for treason. Oh no, that’s right, Helen Clark had the treason law removed from the books. When media commentators keep gabbling on about NZs low productivity, nobody ever states the obvious reason for this lack of productivity. Well, I will state it. The reason for our seeming low level of productivity can be laid squarely at the Governments feet. All the unnecessary laws that have been dumped on us with the RMA, Local body “no can do” rules, environment considerations that cost billions, but do nothing but impede progress and production and the army of civil servants who administer all these impediments to productivity. Add to that our extraordinarily high level of welfare dependency by able bodied people and their never ending demands for additional opportunities to freeload and topped off by the ridiculous gravy train that constitutes so called reparation to the indigenous people who have spotted the gap where wave after wave of incompetent, weak and stupid politicians have made stupid promises which the taxpayers of this country are expected to make good. Unbelievable!!! Astonishing and incomprehensible. I pray everyday for a NZ version of Donald Trump to stand up and lead us back to sanity. | Dianna |
| Errr, – No! National and Labour seem to be wings of the same political bird, created by MMP. The minor parties would constitute the tail feathers of this analogous, ideologically driven, avian, monstrosity, which, judging by its’ current actions, appears to have a bolt missing somewhere! My suggestion – replace MMP with some sort of Referendum system, similar to the Swiss one – this would require a higher level of political involvement on the part of those who are eligible to vote, however. I have totally lost any faith that I may have had in our current system and my feeling is that if we do not change the way we presently order our political affairs, we are on the road to ruin – our current crop of so-called “leaders” will see to this! | Scott |
| They need some lessons in basic science.Or is there another agenda? | Judith |
| I believe this whole climate change thing is just a money making exercise. | Janet |
| The question is loaded. Leave out the words “”plan…their”. Call me a wally, but I “believe” in global warming and I believe it is largely down to humans. There is only so much coal and oil in the ground. They are finite resources. Humans will not stop breeding. At SOME point in the future, SOME generation will be the one living in a post oil/coal world. There will then be only the wind/solar/nuclear options NZCPR deems so evil. What gives us the right to demand to be the generation that sucks these reserves dry to preserve our “economy”? Not so concerned about our grandkids when money is concerned, eh? I also find it hard to envisage a 3m wind turbine that has 300 tonnes of steel, 5 tonnes of copper, 1200 tonnes of concrete, 3 tonnes of aluminium and 2 tonnes of rare earth, total weight 1510 tonnes or 1,510,000 kg??? | Lesley |
| It is time common sense and realistic research results of studies undertaken were implemented | Ian |
| NO: I don’t blame James Shaw and all his loony mates for this bill, I blame Peters, as he put them there, knowing it was his last chance of ever being Prime Minister, and my guess is that he and Taxcinda jacked it all up before the election, I don’t trust any of them. | Athol |
| They are rushing a head with some crazy ideas. To much to quickly , killing the golden goose. Farming is the backbone of this country . Farmers are not the problem. | Wendy |
| the greens, labour & nz first must be exposed and stopped | Neil |
| It represents absolute insanity. | John |
| A big waste of taxpayers money. The Paris Accord is a big sham, conning money out of western civilization. | Kay |
| It will wreck the NZ economy and have no effect on the climate. | John |
| Zero carbon is the biggest con since Al Gore’s movie. | Christine |
| This climate change has no truth | Simon |
| This is unsubstantiated madness. And yes the ignoring of real science and historical evidence is mind numbing and very scary. What is the REAL AGENDA ? | Maurie |
| There is no science anywhere to suggest that carbon is or has caused the earth to warm | Mark |
| Carbon is not our enemy, these ignorant political zealots are!! | Peter |
| I have doubts that this so called ‘Climate Change’ is even taking place! | Eric |
| absolute destruction of the ordinary people that pay tax to support our country,and what is worse they did not even ask us | Allan |
| Moderation in all things seems to me a good policy. | Laurel |
| I find it extraordinary that the writers of this article refuse to acknowledge that the earth’s climate is changing attributable to the burning of fossil fuels by us! It is rather akin to the flat earth society, foolish and arrogant. | Barbara |
| This is ideology, pure and simple, with zero effect on the climate. There are many things that New Zealand needs to do to improve its resiliency to adverse climatic events, whether droughts or floods, and to maximise the productivity of our agriculture, but cutting emissions of carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide will contribute nothing useful and cost catastrophically. The science may not be settled but the madness surely is. | Paul |
| Zero carbon? Killing off all our plant and trees. Or food chain. THrey got to be kidding | John |
| not only killing our economy but also killng our citizens | John |
| I have never bought into this “global warming’ or more lately, “climate change”. The foolish idealistic greens are blinded by their own importance and are not going to be put aside in their quest to destroy this country. Bridges has to just as much of a blinded fool to be sucked into this craziness. And I thought he seemed an OK guy? | Neil |
| The Bill is diabolical. When the falsity of the anthropogenic global warming narrative is eventually laid to rest, New Zealand will end up not only with egg on it face, but will be an economic basket case. | Ron |
| The zero carbon bill has a lot to do with making our government look good on the international stage while doing little for the climate even if the IPCC projections were right. | Neil |
| Just utter rot. I suggest first ask the Gov’ts mates at the UN to start cleaning up Africa and Asia where 90% of the worlds pollution comes from. Man is estimated to contribute to ‘7 of 1% to the worlds greenhouse gases. | Alan |
| I keep saying that all these comments should be aired on National television and if there is any GOOD journalists out there , they should be pushing as hard as they can to publicise all this dangerous tripe that we are hearing about in this column every week! | William |
| Madness, kill the economy for no purpose ! | Rosemary |
| Will James Shaw stop eating meat along with all the other greenies to help meet his goal? | Arthur |
| Madness! I have lived on the NZ coastline for over 40 years. I have seen no sea level rise. Nor will I. Pure scaremongering. | Robert |
| Global Warming is a Scam…. | Berny |
| This. Is calculated madness. There is no proof that CO2 and or methane cause global warming. | John |
| The planet has existed for millions of years. Man can not control the climate. This government is hell bent on destroying New Zealand and its citizens. The climate of doom and cloom created by these zealots creates anxiety and uncertainty on young minds. | Sam |
| What a depressing outlook. These Greens – driven by ideology- without any sense for reality- will be our Nemesis . They have 2 and 1/2 more years to execute their destructive agendas and that is a long time in politics. Peters -together with NZ First -was supposed and expected to be a balancing factor in this coalition and what does he do? he has sold his voters down the garden path . That will seriously backfire in the next elections. Shaw and his clean green bullshit agenda is utter nonsense . As far as Jacinderella and the socialist LALA Party is concerned — their agenda is -well- socialism for us and a fat salary and all the perks for them. That is the bottom line folks!! | Michael |
| This is yet another totally stupid concept from Greens. Will create some great money making opportunities for the select few who get the jobs in the Commission though! Simon Bridges, wake up and look at where this is going! We need strong leadership in NZ now, cannot afford to just drift steadily into disaster! | Hugh |
| The Greens/environmentalists and deep state proponents will kill NZ’s economy and disadvantage the the very people they were voted in to protect. Gobal warming and the Paris Agreement is the biggest international fraud being perpetrated on global citizens. The worm is turning and the lies being told are being uncovered by science. | Maureen |
| The gummint is comprised of deluded zealits who, given free rein, will undoubtedly, bring us to ruin. | Ron |
| I am reminded that the basis for political power is “keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety)” (Menekin). The reality is that such a policy will lead to poverty! | Colin |
| I think the whole idea of the greens will be to be detrimental to all New Zealanders.it is crazy. | Claire |
| Frankly, your mental capabilities would need questioning if you were to accept and agree with all that Shaw and his socialist friends are proposing. They should stick to planting trees and maintaining the cleanliness of our rivers and fore shore. Telling the truth for starters would be a revolution of its own. Question: Why are these serious matters not being exposed by the media in this country? Does this confirm my belief that we have political censorship or manipulation in NZ? | Chris |
| TINA. If there is to be a habitable planet on which to enjoy material well-being then responsible governments must start somewhere and soon. | Graham |
| This Government together with its lunatic Minister – James Shaw, will be crippling this country with its idiotic concept that Their Zero Carbon Bill will do anything other than harming the New Zealand Community. It must be STOPPED!!!!!! | Roy |
| Only here in NZ could we allow this to happen, a non elected indivudual has been given the power to decimate an economy with idealistic policies that have not been thought through. This ‘Greens’ dumb scheme is similar to the former Energy Minister Max Bradford and his energy reforms. The former National minister deregulated the power market in 1997 telling everyone that completion would reduce cost of power to the consumer, well that worked?? | Robert |
| Climate Change is the biggest con since Ponzi and Madhoff’s great swindles. The trillions of dollars trying to stop so called climate change will make us look stupid in a hundred years when historians will think how could they be so stupid | Colin |
| Surely a better focus for them would be to look at banning the use of plastics which has a far more detrimental and obvious effect on the environment. This is an issue that is man made and we can have an effect on. Where is common sense? | Bevan |
| Another ill thought out policy. We want a guarantee from these idiots that they will be personally held to account. After they have been tossed out of Parliament | Franl |
| ….the Human Race ” must be placed FIRST in this ‘Jungle of Life’ otherwise we will be pushed back to a Stone Age of epic proportions…!! | CHowes |
| I only voted yes because your question was very poorly constucted or was it deliberately loaded just as referendum questions when asked seem to be. | Gary |
| The current & the previous government, are both servants to the UN led globalist agenda. . National/Maori Party ratified the Paris agreement, working closely with Obama [an extreme socialist who visited this country recently] & now we have what the last two governments have worked towards being implemented by the indoctrinated generation that is in currently in. charge . Muriels article sums up the agricultural science perfectly. I myself have forwarded numerous FACTUAL articles to appropriate members of all ‘Parties’ in the House of representatives, & have yet to receive a response or reply from any. Time to vote for NEW CONSERVATIVE .. | A.G.R. |
| We should look for another hill that the Greens can jump off! | Jim |
| So when we get rid of carbon what are the trees and plants going to live on, and how are they proposing to artificially going to make oxygen? | Stevo |
| Too drastic for unproven reasons | Graham |
| As usual the green party are over the top again , they want us all on bikes living in tents, hunting and fishing for our survival | Bill |
| Such extremes are totally out of line with maintaining our economy. | John |
| Whilst this bill is damaging and follows flawed logic I would be less worried about it if I thought national would get in and scrap the law after the next election. The trouble is National under Bridges are just like the government lot, a hopeless bunch of lying rabble! | Murray |
| Zero carbon by 2050 is fantasy talk. The rest of the world have taken very few steps to follow suit. How does the Green party suggest that they will have enough power to charge all the electric cars and trucks ?? | Wayne |
| I agree with stock being at the worst..neutral. Forests are also interesting, exotic forests remove carbon when milled. Natural forests return all carbon (including methane) to the atmosphere and hence can be no better than neutral through life cycle. but this is not included in their calcs. to justify replanting forests. OK we need oxygen but then of course, pasture produces plenty of that for us! | Roger |
| I am a university trained chemist and I am unable to find any scientifically based evidence that supports the speculative theories that have been advanced on climate change. The most significant contributors to any global warming or cooling are the sun’s temperature variations, sea temperature and water vapour – clouds. Both of the latter two are related to the temperature of the sun The 0.05% CO2 in the atmosphere is insignificant, its level being largely effected by the sea temperature and to a lesser extent by vegetative growth such as forests. The methane argument is nonsense as we reticulate methane throughout NZ as an energy source but we call it natural gas. | Colin |
| Misguided lunacy | Graham |
| The proposal is absolute lunacy. | Tony |
| We are such a small population both human and animal on a world scale what we do will have little or no effect, Follow the big counties, and don’t reinvent the wheel | Ian |
| Where did these people get their education so much for our university’s don’t they teach a thing practical | Peter |
| Ideological hypocrisy.they have no idea how little our emissions will make to global warming let alone how the big polluters will react | Mike |
| It is all a load of nonsense. Thank goodness some one has the sense to question this and give the opportunity for them to do their own research. | IAN |
| It’s bulls**t | Owen |
| A report this morning talks about the number of jobs to be lost to automation in the coming decades. We will be in for a rough ride if this zero emissions comes to be. | Carl |
| Political B/S | IAN |
| NO! CO2 is an essential part of our environment. Look at global greening. Please consider addressing population control. That is man made. | Doug |
| Sounds like a new Communist Regime is arising lead by the Godless Stalinist Greens. | David |
| More red tape | Anon |
| As all models in the past have proven to be way off the mark, we dumb ass kiwis have been sucker punched by the left wing clowns running the country. Whart’s Jacinda going to say when a global cooling returns, something akin to what happened in the 1600s. | Sam |
| We will kill ourselves and all nature as we desperately need co2 Which they confuse with carbon. | Gerard |
| Beware the Greenies ” dark green agenda” | Brian |
| Every New Zealander who understands this proposal will oppose it vigorously | Barry |
| How often do the facts need to be printed: – 1. CO2 is not a pollutant. You drink it every day in your drink of Coco-Cola or carbonated drink. 2. This year is the coldest on record so far…? 3. The exaggeration of the truth is exampled by images published by the Greens…What you see is water vapour coming out of factory exhaust stacks and that is not a pollutant. 4. As has been stated CO2 is necessary for life itself and makes up a microscopic part of the atmosphere. Nature produces almost all of it. Even if we increase it pollution will be unaffected as it is a harmless, odourless, tasteless trace gas. 5. The Green law will be about how to justify the funding of the new climate managing departments of the public sector when justification does not exist. 6. The impact of this fraudulent policy will make industry uncompetitive against developing countries; increase the cost to business, the taxpayer and the consumer. Mr Law lives in a fantasyland %u2013 He should get a job in the real world!!! | Frederick |
| The very fact that ideologically motivated politicians insist that the science is settled and cannot be questioned tells us it is not science at all, but a religion. | Brian |
| Scaremongering at it’s core. | Billy |
| Never. The human induced climate change ‘threat’ is a fraud that we should fight against any measures in it’s name very strongly. | Brenda |
| This is the scariest of any government NZ has experienced. They must be stopped. Bridges must also be replaced and fast. | Murray |
| The writing has been on the wall for decades. Emission Trading Systems are a very sick joke. They cost billions every year and achieve absolutely nothing. Let alone zero emissions. | Michael |
| Madness, pure ideological suicide. | Peter |
| This is utter political rubbish. In global NZ does not pollute enough to have our economy tipped upside down to satisfy an overzealous Greenie like Mr Shaw and his pack of other head-in-the sand greenies. | Graeme |
| It is unbelievable that with all the research and evidence available that someone as educated as James Shaw ignores these to persue his agenda and by doing so cripple our economy.There is no doubt I that he and our Prime Minister are trying to make their mark in history and to hell with the consequences.athey form a remarkably dangerous pair supported by our acting Prime Minister who failed to get enough support from his electorate to get elected.. How can this be democracy’ ? | Bryan |
| Borderline insanity. Have these people never worked in the real world. NZCPR should be required reading ! | Dick |
| Until we change this mad gonernment we are going to be and get back to an elected party this nonsense will continue! | Brian |
| Nature produces more Carbon via 20 Active Volcanoes around the world, which is discharged into the atmosphere. Ask any volcanist to provide information. It has been calculated that ONE volcanic outburst discharges more carbon than all the motor cars in Auckland do over a period of 10 years. Does anyone know and are aware of the level of education and credentials of James Shaw, the Greens party leader ?? | Pierre |
| More fake news, what more can one say. | Garry |
| Economic Madness | Alan |
| Why should a small country focus on an issue that they have not first researched and not look at future consequences for our children. Time to look and work harder on current issues such as housing. Stop blaming farmers who are and will be the backbone of the country. The current cattle disease must be most welcome to some in terms of reducing methane (so some think) | Ido |
| A sure fire way to damage the economy and our standing with International Investors. | May |
| The present govt exhibits symptoms of economic, scientific and financial ignorance once again. | Bernard |
| NO NO NO Let us not forget that James Shaw is an ideological Communist (like the Leader before him) who subjugates all his efforts, Not to Citizens well being, but to the mandates of the United Nations globalist agenda. The greens party itself has sidetracked away from serious concerns with wildlife to exclusively that of political globalist ideology. Part of that Internationalist NWO ideology is to break and impoverish the regulation resistant western middle class, abandon liberty, and impose communist style controls over all the people, with exclusive privileges for the ruling few. Pensioners, landowners, home owners and vehicle owners beware, this means fake regulation in the name of bogus climate change, unsupportable supposed Gaia protection and targeted personal taxation, based on false premises. Its a communist RORT propounded by the shallowest of shills, who attract the shallowest in support. Its time we returned the power of veto to home owners and landowners, those with long term commitment and skin in the game, and denude the millennial snoflakes of the power to impose flakey regulation. Ask yourself can you support a minority crashing the combined wealth of the hard working thrifty majority for what, untried and unworkable ideology. | Richard |
| definitely NO just another brick in the wall | Alan |
| Science has not proven that global warming is anthropogenic. We are being duped and bullied into our present response .The Government is not willing to independently establish the facts but merely conforms to U.N pressure. like most other countries | Harvey |
| This plan yet again proves the government cares more about ideology and really doesn’t give a damn about people, particularly the ones that have an alternative view than their own. | John |
| Absolute waste of time | David |
| Again the Marxist Greens and their desire to destroy western democracies by any means, uses alarmist rhetoric and propaganda to distort factual evidence. The taxpayers meekly pay Niwa “scientists” to encourage these distortions. This is what happens when fools are elected. | Rex |
| global warming is a natural cycle of the planet just look at the history of the glaciers also look at the history of the global warming and global cooling cycles there are lots of them. | Bruce |
| Thanks Muriel for an excellent appraisal of the Zero Carbon Bill. I fully endorse your comments of James Shaw’s dishonest predictions of gloom, he has no understanding of how the biosphere operates. | John |
| To reduce our economy by 25% is madness, I am all for caring for the environment but this will be counter productive. | Gordon |
| NZ will die under such a regime. Utter stupidity. | Scott |
| Shaw should be shot for treason – public enemy No. 1 | Chris |
| Does James Shaw ever study scientific papers? The ostrich seems to have his head in the sand. | Mark |
| So if we pay the little plump person with the bow Tie heaps of money, the Climate change will STOP. Naaaaa. Plants NEED Carbon to give us Oxygen !! What part of that don’t these ID10Ts understand !! | Geoff |
| More airy fairy ideas with out any proof I have always thought the global warming has been a great big rip off from the first time it was mooted as you say in the article the world was a lot warmer in the past without any disasters of the oceans rising meters and drowning countries it is complete bull shit! | Digby |
| Rubbish | Lloyd |
| The earth is a closed cycle, carbon is not created or destroyed, It just goes around and around the cycle. | Richard |
| The global warming emperor has no clothes. | Brett |
| its madness .suicidal | Anthony |
| Actually not sure. | David |
| Absolute political claptrap! Carbon is and has been all around us for millions of years, and co2 is a most valuable and necessary portion of our life’s (natures) ingredients. Oh! ALL fizzy drinks emit co2 bubbles – from coke to champagnes! General smoking is being condemned for the sake of society UNLESS you smoke cannabis!!! How long will it be before ‘only pot smokers can stand for Parliament’? | Stuart |
| A definite no! | Terry |
| Nitwits, what a stupid idea. | Don |
| The proposed legislation is based on false premises and will destroy our Country. | Ian |
| Deny all you choose, but an argument based purely on future wealth at the cost to our world will surely fail. | Phil |
| Definitely NO ! The idea of a Zero Carbon Bill is a giant fraud and scam now culturally accepted as is the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 – New Zealand’s Biggest Scam Ever! | Don |
| The science that promotes zero carbon is highly questionable and rather dodgy. Better to do the scientific homework rather than limit the economy for purely political reasons. | Berwyn |
| The Greens are anti business so this is what you get when they are part of a Coalition. | Peter |
| The leadership of this country is in very untrustworthy hands, people with agendas other than the good of the country. We are in trouble! | Greg |
| Unfortunately the phrasing of your question is typical of authorities questions when they are seeking certain outcomes – it’s loaded. However, regardless of the effect on our economy, all this climate change fear-mongering is unproven crap. Even if it were proven that we are changing the climate (highly unlikely) we are ignorantly arrogant if we believe we that we can do anything that will make a significant difference. The n… in the woodpile is the human species – no people = no pollution. The more people (inevitable) the more pollution. Gaia will sort it out sooner or later! | Alan |
| Winston Peters will become known as the “Nero” on New Zealand, fiddling while the country financially burns. | Peter |
| Virtue signaliing insanity | Peter |
| They are only targating the country not the city when they should go a lot more slower and study it more | Cherryl |
| This looks a lot like a deliberate attempt to destroy our economy thereby paving the way for left wing totalitarianism to enslave us all. | Kerry |
| For all the reasons stated in your newsletter | mel |
| This is simply Marxism by stealth … applied slowly but surely. Labor are just a bunch of lying and deceitful closet communists who are hellbent on destroying NZ’s way of life. Ardern has even admitted publicly that she supports ‘wealth redistribution’ which is just a cunning way of describing ‘socialism’. How sad that we have such a bunch of commie lunatics now formulating hair-brained policies like this. We only have Winston Peters to blame for this … he is proof indeed that sh#t truly does walk and talk ! | Steve |
| Doug edmeads talks sense | Myles |
| There will be much crazy legislstion to be repealed after the next election. This illegitimate government of lefty loonies and welfare fraudsters are doing so much long term damage. | Richard |
| 150% NO!!Absurd nonsense why are we allowing be dictated to and destroying our Economy, when will the ‘rest’ of NZ wake up and see what the real agenda’s are from this government?? | Steve |
| Alternatives to fossil fuel are slowly dying so is the evidence for Global warming. surely Simon is just trying to find out what evidence they have. | Maurie |
| We need to protect our rural community and assist with growing more trees and protecting the trees we have | Sharon |
| Loopy left. Time for them to return to the real world. | Bruce |
| Submission done online. | Ross |
| Stop this madness! Hold Winston Peters accountable, who is ultimately responsible. | Ed |
| They should be concentrating on our mounting waste disposal problem rather than chasing windmills! | Liz |
| Zealotory such as this ill-considered bill costs – the losers are taxpayers whose material well-being is much reduced. Get rid if the zealots and “feel good” brigade. | Andrew |
| Can these “Green” policies stop volcanic emissions; cosmic action; chemtrail pollution? A far better way is the Israeli way. Use techniques the make the deserts bloom. How will we dispose of the dead batteries fhat will eventually poison our environment? | Keith |
| The lunatics are in charge of the asylum. Climate change is a natural event and nothing that mankind does will make one iota of difference to the climate. In fact it is total arrogance to think that we are able to control nature at all. | Allan |
| Utter madness | Kath |
| Why are we still chasing this whilst ignoring the elephant in the room – plastic waste pollution which really is killing the planet? I guess because fixing the real problem carries little political cachet and wouldn’t fit the socialist agenda. | Martin |
| This carbon rubbish is full of holes and doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. I saw a great programme on National Geographic which clearly showed that the worlds climate is driven by what goes on inside the earths crust not outside . It would have been great if this programme had been well advertised so that the general populous could see it and form their own opinion. The biggest threat to the world at the moment is the plastic tsunami which will silently choke the world . We are so addicted to plastic that we can’t do without it. | Jock |
| It will bankrupt the country and not have any effect on the climate. | David |
| More unthinking ideology | Peter |
| Any intelligent person would know by now that Mother Nature is the one in charge and that there is not one shred of evidence to support this crazy ‘greenie’ man made climate change myth. Their arrogance is only exceeded by their ignorance | Rob |
| I think we are being mislead | Richard |
| I am concerned by the deep level of penetration that this brainwashing has taken in the West and in the young. I fear it will need to get worse before it gets better. I am even less hopeful for a Trump-like political movement in a country where the people are more docile and prone to ambivalence than the Americans who are fiercely protective of their rights and freedoms. The pushback there on sensible, centrist policies is hysteria – how would New Zealanders cope with that level of personal hatred should they vote in someone similar? Lest we forget the prime ministerial aspirations of Don Brash who was probably our last chance to holt this juggernaut of madness as we march so far left we’re in danger of going over the cliff. | Randy |
| Unproved nonsense which will create an economic disaster for New Zealand. The problem however is that a majority of people in this country have seemingly come to accept this nonsense as correct – they need to study the the problem in depth and to be honest Muriel Newman’s article is a really splendid readable summary of the disaster that is being perpetrated on MZ by zealot idiots. Importantly the media have very largely been taken in and any writings and comments against the climate change nonsense and the danger of carbon never sees the light of day | Hylton |
| Time to make significant steps to offset climate warming | Kevin |
| We now have heartless “elected” tyrants at the levers of power. | Phil |
| Climate change is an ongoing phenomena and the man=made portion is very small. | Gerry |
| Absurd policies from an illegitimate government. We are being duped by well-meaning but misguided cretins. | Charles |
| Hell no. I’m against everything this government does! | Graeme |
| Socialist left wing Muppets | Cutty |
| More BS | Colin |
| Simply madness. Not supported by any evidence. | Gary |
| How can we get RID of the Greens in particular, but the rest of those w……ers as well. | Graeme |
| Absolutely criminal | Peter |
| These idiots need to be thrown out of power before they forever ruin NZ. Winston Peters will go down in NZ history as the feckless traitor that he is. It’s scary that stupid young people have been so brainwashed by the lefty media and feminist teachers using climate change hoax as a Trojan horse. National are #metoo complicit thanks to Soyman. It’s all good though because now princess Jac has given birth and everything will be just peachy. Not. | John |
| No Way. Carbon emissions are not an issue. One volcanic eruptions out more carbon than the entire human race has ever generated. The planet needs carbon and so do humans. | Simon |
| The cost to the economy needs to be explained not just the benefit to the environment. | Gregor |
| I cannot believe National are supporting this scam – time to replace the ‘whimp ‘ with Judith ! | Ken |
| I wish James Shaw knew what he was talking about. Its not the livestock that is full of #### | Steve |
| Portraying carbon as an enemy was a con in 2006 when I first looked at it and 12 years later it is still a con job | Collin |
| Absolutely not. They do not have any mandate to proceed with this. | David |
| Has your so called government gone completely mad. Look at the mess Australia is in. Majority view should rule. | chris |
| It is also time for the National party to grow a set and reject this bloody nonsence once and for all | Phil |
| Absolutely … Shaw is a dangerous and deluded freak, along with his party. Peters had better front up to this crap. | Alan |
| Plain crazy. | Allan |
| Absolute madness and the government have no mandate to do this, | Ray |
| I don’t have any knowledge of the so called science behind climate change, but I do know there are many scientists who totally reject the concept. However, putting that aside for the Government to shut down the oil exploration and coal mining without any consultation or any idea of a viable replacement for the fuel is a travesty and to my mind akin to treason. James Shaw and the fellow Greens have no place in politics or any place of authority. Shame on Winston Peters for backing them. | Bruce |
| Financial and economic suicide. | Robyn |
| Very good illustration of why losing minority idiot parties should never be allowed to become the government. CO2 has NO EFFECT on climate and has always lagged warming. That yellow thing in the sky is our sole heat source and climate engine. | Zoran |
| There is no proof in the pudding | Andrew |
| There is no real proof that climate change exists | David |
| The Zero Carbon Bill is a crazy idea. It should be tossed out before it does real damage. | Amy |
| Who on earth voted for these fools! | Jason |
| Climate change aka global warming is the biggest con-job in history. Why isn’t National opposing this stupidity? | Matt |
| The whole concept of zero emissions is so ridiculous it is hard to see how anyone could treat it seriously. The problem is that James Shaw sounds so plausible that people will believe him. The consequences of this being passed into law don’t bear thinking about. | Simon |
| Where is New Zealand’s Donald Trump when you need him – to say no to this climate madness! | Paul |