"The environment is a key component of New Zealand’s unique national identity and is sacrificed at our own demise. Environmental policy needs to be factually sound, practical, affordable, measurable and actually help our environment, which can’t necessarily be said of proposed carbon taxes and emission trading schemes."

- Richard Lewis: TV3 Decisions 08

Our thinking on Environmental issues: The Family Party cares deeply about protecting New Zealand's unique clean green image and is passionate about our environment. Based on the principle of responsible stewardship, the Party recognises our obligations to future generations in terms of environmental sustainability. To that end, The Family Party believes:

• Principles of responsible stewardship and environmental awareness begin in the home and should be complemented through the education curriculum. If you wouldn't litter in your own back yard, don't do it in somebody else's!
• Government should protect our unique 'clean green' image
• Minimising waste and pollution is an important and desirable goal
• Industrial progress should not compromise the quality and sustainability of our environment
• Environment policies should be backed by robust scientific research and established facts

Global warming: The Family Party is as yet unconvinced that taxing New Zealand families and businesses is reasonable or justified based on global warming theory. This is not to say categorically that global warming isn't real, but that policies borne out of global warming must be carefully measured against the cost and benefits on New Zealand's families and economy.

Whether or not humans are causing global warming, and if they are, what response is appropriate, are issues that are hotly debated in the scientific community. Most political parties have chosen to believe one sector of the scientific community and disregard others. The Family Party is unwilling to pick sides, and feels that this issue must be decided through scientific debate, not by politicians.

To that end, The Family Party will:

• Demand a Royal Commission of Enquiry to determine the truth behind global warming theory and what action, if any, could or should be taken
• Until then The Family Party opposes any form of carbon tax or emissions trading scheme being imposed on New Zealand individuals, families and businesses
• Propose a complete withdrawal from costly Kyoto obligations that stand at $1 billion and growing
  

Helpful information:

As a very small country, New Zealand only produces 0.2% of global emissions; meaning that whatever we do is primarily symbolic in terms of our impact on global emissions.

If the currently proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is introduced, based on the Government's own predictions of $50 a tonne for carbon dioxide,
- Petrol prices will rise by 12.2 cents a litre,
- Electricity by 20 percent.

Once agriculture is brought into the scheme, farmers will be effectively taxed on the methane produced by their livestock with devastating costs -
- 12 percent reduction in the payout for dairy
- 21 percent reduction for beef
- 39 percent reduction for sheep
- 43 percent reduction for venison
Source: http://www.nzcpr.com/weekly120.htm  

Even with all this expense, the ETS "will deliver no significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions" according to Greenpeace.
Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/press/reports/expanding-carbon-footprint-report

Useful references:

Supporting Human Induced Global Warming:
IPCC Assessment Reports
Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the official UN body advising governments on this issue
Link: http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/assessments-reports.htm

RSNZ Statement on Climate Change
Statement from the Royal Society of New Zealand supporting Climate Change. Note that this was not universally supported within the Society, and Dr Vincent Gray resigned from the Society in protest to this statement.
Link: http://www.rsnz.org/news/releases/clim0708.php

Opposing Human Induced Global Warming:
Open letter from 100 Scientists to UN Secretary General
"Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity's real and pressing problems"
Link: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=164002
Signatories: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=164004

IPCC Challenged to Renounce Global Warming Claims
"There is no observational evidence in measured data going back 22,000 years or even millions of years that CO2 levels (whether from man or nature) have driven or are driving world temperatures or climate change"
Link to PDF: http://www.climatescienceinternational.org/images/ipcc_letter_14april08.pdf

Support for Call for Review of UN IPCC
Long time expert reviewer Dr Vincent Gray explains how the UN IPCC has outlived its usefulness
Link:
http://nzclimatescience.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=155&Itemid=30

The Global Warming Myth by Prof David Bellamy
"There are no facts linking the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide with imminent catastrophic global warming."
http://nzclimatescience.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=32

Former NASA Climatologist Challenges UN IPCC Figures
"I fear that the sloppy science that too many climate researchers have lapsed into could, in the end, hurt our scientific discipline beyond repair."
Link to PDF:
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Hey-Nobel-Prize-Winners-Answer-Me-This.pdf

We have included more references opposing climate change simply because this is the less well-publicised position, so readers are probably less familiar with it.

Useful sites:

IPCC
http://www.ipcc.ch

International Climate Science Coalition
http://www.climatescienceinternational.org/

New Zealand Climate Science Coalition
http://www.climatescience.org.nz/

Kyoto Liability: The Family Party is concerned about the huge burden to our economy from compliance with Kyoto targets and will call for an immediate withdrawal.

Background:

New Zealand is locked into a commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions to a certain level by 2012. This commitment was made by the Government on behalf of the whole country. At the time that the NZ Government made the commitment, it was anticipated that it would produce a financial benefit to the country of around $500 million, because of the carbon-friendly status of our forestry sector. This proved to be incorrect, and instead of being able to sell carbon credits, NZ will instead have to buy them, in order to meet the liability that will arrive in 2012.

The Government's balance sheet provides for a contingent liability of $537 million for this purpose (a bit less than the $688 million amount likely to be required according to Business NZ figures). However, the Government has indicated that it intends to transfer all or part of this liability to the 'productive sectors' of the NZ economy (industry, transport, electricity generation, agriculture etc.). The liability will then be borne by businesses within those sectors.

Transferring it to businesses in this way will significantly increase the liability, as individual businesses do not have the purchasing power that Government has. Business NZ calculations indicate the liability if transferred to enterprises is likely to be in the order of $3.5 billion - around seven times higher than if the liability were to be met from the consolidated account. As many of the businesses concerned would pass the increased costs onto their customers, the effect would simply be higher prices for NZ-produced goods and services.

Source: How should we pay for our Kyoto liability? NZ Business
http://www.businessnz.org.nz/file/1232/How%20should%20we%20pay%20for%20our%20Kyoto%20liability.pdf

Furthermore, under Kyoto we must account for any emissions caused here to produce exports, but there is no penalty for emissions associated with products we import. A business in New Zealand is penalised, but if they move offshore they are not penalised, even though total emissions are still the same or even higher. This could push businesses offshore, causing job losses and damaging the economy, without actually reducing global emissions at all.

The Family Party understands that the 16th February 2008 marked the completion of a three year term, after which any country is entitled to withdraw. (The Kyoto Protocol came into force on 16 February 2005)

Following our withdrawal, if the Royal Commission of Enquiry finds that global warming is correct, and it is necessary and practical for New Zealand to contribute to a reduction in global emissions, we can then pursue policies that do this effectively without being restricted by the methodology and high expense of Kyoto.

Did you know?
The European Union experience of Kyoto has forced carbon-intensive industries to relocate to non-Kyoto countries, it has caused businesses to fail, and others to reduce their hours of operation. It has done nothing to reduce carbon emissions, but a lot to reduce economic growth.
Source: http://www.nzcpr.com/weekly120.htm