Who Said This?

Who said the following?

The madness of the Government’s new carbon tax is that New Zealanders will be the only people in the world paying it. It will drive up the costs of living and undermine the competitiveness of New Zealand business for negligible environmental gain.

Answer after the jump...

Well, if you guessed Nick Smith, you were right. He said this in 2005 in a column on his web site.
My how things change once you become government, ey?

The NZ Climate Science Coalition has released the following message (I got this through Facebook, but it is up at The Briefing Room as well....

On the 1st July, 2010, New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is to implemented.

The ETS is effectively a new tax that will affect most sectors of the New Zealand economy, raising prices for all New Zealanders.

It can be estimated it will eventually cost the average New Zealand household about $2500 - $3000 in higher prices (worsened by any increase in the rate of GST). In addition, Sheep and Beef farmers will become liable (at $25/tonne CO²) to $5,200, while Dairy farmers will pay over $10,000 each – with 75% of these levies commencing in July 2010. And then there is the jump in prices of EVERYTHING, followed by higher interest rates!

For what?

For no measurable changes to CO² levels and climate!

There are no positives, only negatives for the people of New Zealand.

We join the business and farming communities in calling on the Government to defer the implementation of the ETS given:

- that it has just become known that Australia is deferring the implementation of its ETS scheme until 2013,

- that no other country has put in place any similar scheme,

- that its implementation will severely disadvantage NZ against its trading partners,

- that it will cause unnecessary hardship for a very large number of New Zealanders.

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Five new videos - ‘The Emissions Trading Scheme: The Really Inconvenient Truth – For New Zealand’ - are now on YouTube

They can be found at the following links:

Barry Brill, Former Member of Parliament, Minister of Science, and Minister of Energy, and now Chariman of the NZCSC, overviews a brief history of the ETS and addresses its downsides.

Barry Brill - 7 mins - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bu2t29Lu30

Professor Bob Carter from James Cook University (Queensland) provides a 20 minute interview about his new book - Climate: the Counter-Consensus ^* - in which he distinguishes three different aspects of the public discussion of climate change as corresponding to science reality, virtual reality (computer models) and socio-political reality. These distinctions have important scientific and policy implications, yet until recently they were absent from the public debate.

Prof Bob Carter PART 1 - 10 mins - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZxgJFTLppA

Prof Bob Carter PART 2 - 10 mins - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7wmPeAyoiE

Dr Jock Allison, Former Director of the MAF Invermay Research Centre and critically involved in recent improvements to the NZ sheep industry, addresses the effect the ETS will have on Agriculture.

Dr Jock Allison - 10 mins - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXUdpZlwHuA

Bryan Leyland, is a consulting engineer specializing in electricity generation and transmission, and speaks to the effect of the ETS on the power industry.

Bryan Leyland - 6 mins - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROYt2m5B55I

Please watch the videos and spread this message far and wide!

Forward it to all who will be interested…and even those who are not! If they live in NZ, they will be affected by the ETS!

Or…’Cut and paste and pass along’…to all and sundry…

Or…if you have a website and want to embed the videos, go right ahead…

If you are concerned about the imposition of this totally unnecessary tax on the people of New Zealand, be sure to contact the National Government Caucus through a web page such ashttp://www.betterdemocracy.co.nz/email_mps.php and let them know in no uncertain terms what you think. It is very very simple to email all National Government members through this webpage.

Thanks

NZ Climate Science Coalition