Emissions Trading and Ngai tahu
By | Sep 2, 2008
3. TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki) to the Minister
responsible for Climate Change Issues: Does he agree with Te
Rūnanga o NgāiTahuKaiwhakahaere, Mark Solomon, that the emissions
trading scheme represents a significant threat to both the integrity
and finality of their 1998 settlement; if not, why?
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues)
: No, I do not agree, for several reasons. The compensation package
we have negotiated around the emissions trading scheme has substantially
reduced the scheme’s impact on NgāiTahu. It is true that a
live issue remains around whether the Crown had information about
the Kyoto Protocol at the time the settlement was signed with
NgāiTahu in 1998 that was not disclosed to NgāiTahu. That is
why the Crown has agreed to open its books to ascertain whether
that was the case. If this assertion is correct then the Minister
in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations will address the
matter.
Te Ururoa Flavell: What response will the Minister make to NgāiTahu
to address their analysis that the emissions trading scheme legislation
would “literally wipe tens of millions of dollars off the value
of the forestry assets we received as part of our settlement.”?
Hon DAVID PARKER: That, too, is a moot point. The amount of compensation
in the form of deforestation emission units, which are a valuable
commodity, was close to doubled in the final package, and the
economics of some of the land conversion proposals that NgāiTahu
rely upon for their assessment of loss assume water availability
for dairy conversions that is by no means certain.
Te Ururoa Flavell: What advice has the Minister received from
the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to suggest that the
scheme could leave the Crown open to substantial claims, because
the value of the land handed to iwi under Treaty of Waitangi
settlements could be substantially decreased?
Hon DAVID PARKER: I do not accept the assertion in that question.
Te Ururoa Flavell: What assurance can the Minister provide tangata
whenua that the provisions of the bill relating to pre-1990 forested
Māori land are not a confiscation contrary to the provisions
of the Treaty of Waitangi, and are not ultra vires to Te Ture
Whenua Maori Act 1993, when the owners’ submissions have advised
the House that the scheme is an alienation without their required
consent of 75 percent?
Hon DAVID PARKER: A large number of iwi have exactly the opposite
view, and believe that the compensation package under the emissions
trading scheme is a net benefit to them rather than a net cost.
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