“The Government’s rushed and flawed Climate Change (Auction Price) Amendment Bill passed under urgency this evening should be called out for what it really is, a stealth tax that will impose higher costs on New Zealanders.
“The reason for this? The Government decided that it couldn’t trust the New Zealand market to set a price for New Zealand carbon credits that James Shaw would agree with. Therefore, they needed to give themselves the power to push prices up.
“Manipulating the carbon market like this will impose higher costs on business which will see higher prices at the shopfront for every day New Zealanders.
“The whole point of having an Emissions Trading Scheme and carbon market is that the prices are set by the market, not through state dictate.
“If instead, we have an Emissions Trading Scheme where the prices are set by the Green Party, what’s the point of having it?
“ACT proposed amendments to this Bill that would have allowed businesses who need to access New Zealand credits to offset emissions a pathway to get them at a fair market price and have certainty in the market.
“The Government voted these proposals down to preserve James Shaw’s ability to meddle in the carbon market and impose higher costs on New Zealanders.