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Mike's Minute: Good on the Greens for securing Zero Carbon Bill

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Thu, 9 May 2019, 11:06AM

Mike's Minute: Good on the Greens for securing Zero Carbon Bill

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Thu, 9 May 2019, 11:06AM

Yesterday is the sort of day the Greens should be about, and in that I feel pleased for James Shaw. 

Contrast the days for the Greens this week. Tuesday, a haphazard gerrymandered, grubby, little agreement on cannabis that’s full of questions, holes, and danger. Where they tell us its binding when it's not, where they tell us dope fries your brain and medical evidence is your brain is still developing till 25, but we'll sell it to you at 20. A deal whereby at least one party of the three is dragged kicking and screaming, because of the vagaries of MMP. 

And then Wednesday. A Zero Carbon Bill that is big picture, is positive for the country and the planet, and has cross party support. 

The Green Party and James Shaw should be about more Wednesdays, and not Tuesdays. The Greens should be an environmental party, not a social engineering, communist party. How they haven't worked out that the Sue Bradfords, Sue Kedgleys, and Metiria Tureis did them nothing but harm, I have no idea. 

But the environment is worth votes, climate change well handled is worth votes. And that is their future, not drug peddling and promoting social harm. 

By the way, ACT are not voting for it. They stand alone on this, the way they tried to stand alone on the gun reform. I accept there is a group of people who aren't into climate change, and don’t think the obsession many have with it is worth the bother. You would think a good litmus test would be if ACT took the stance they did, then support towards their party should follow, let's wait and see. 

Meantime back to the plan. Methane will get treated differently and so it should. Not least of which because much of it comes from farming, and we are a farming nation. And not even this government with its anti-business stance is mad enough to kill farming. 

Having killed off, offshore oil exploration, with no replacements in mind except today's chinwag featuring James Cameron, to damage farming would be political suicide. 

We should also mention that even if we reach our targets, which we won't, the world will not notice the difference. We are so small, our outputs so insignificant, we could start burning coal tomorrow, burn it forever, and no one would blink an eye. 

No, the reason we are doing it is to be seen to play our part, which from a communal kumbaya sort of outlook is probably no bad thing. What prevents any of these agreements going anywhere, whether here or globally, whether its Kyoto, Paris, or this, is economic reality. 

Plenty want to line up for the bandwagon, but when the bandwagon involves job losses, lower economic growth, and it hits you and your back pocket, the enthusiasm suddenly fades. 

And so it will be for this, politics in this country is done in three year cycles, charting a legal course for the next 30 is fanciful. 

But credit to the Greens, credit for the cross party support, credit for the realism around farmers. It's a solid attempt and a million times more productive than peddling drugs to kids.       

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