The government's proposed law change to keep agriculture out of the Emissions Trading Scheme has passed its first reading.
So what did Climate Minister Simon Watts (pictured) say about this Bill in his speech?
Did he argue it was a really bad idea because the most recent inventory published by Ministry For The Environment revealed our greenhouse emissions have increased by 21% over the last decade ? Did he point to the line at the top of that report which states :
“The major contributors were methane from an increase in dairy cattle numbers and carbon dioxide from road transport.”
No.
Here’s what our Climate Change Minister said in parliament.
"It actually supports farmers…Agriculture is the backbone of the New Zealand economy, it contributes 81 percent of goods exported and New Zealand-grown produce feeds over 40 million people worldwide."
So much for this government promise of evidence- based policies!
But putting aside for the moment the irresponsibility of this Bill with regard to Climate change, the above statement by Watts is an official admission of something I raised in my Inside Child Poverty Revisited documentary .
We are a nation of just over 5 million people . If, as you say, we are feeding “over 40 million people world wide ,“ Minister Watts , then why do we have so many food banks? Why are so many of us going hungry?
The answer, Minister, lies in your political ideology that holds we will all be better off if the rich are allowed to get richer because wealth trickles down.
Well, 40 years of neoliberalism has demonstrated that’s a lie. Wealth doesn’t trickle down it sticks with wealthy.
Hunger is not OK Minister.
Pretending there is no increase in the floods and fires we are experiencing is not OK Minister.
And negating our duty to our children and grandchildren to leave the world a better place than we found it is not OK Minister.
In short - Money does not come first Minister. The well-being of the people you were elected to serve comes first.
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Rich donors & their lobbyists come first, ignore the evidence, keep telling the same old lies as on the campaign trail and don’t let my children swim in polluted rivers!
Cruel, cynical and in power.
Tons of food, and it is a national disgrace that any of us goes hungry!!