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Kate Acland: Beef + Lamb Chair on Labour's plan to review the ETS · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Labour came out yesterday, said the ETS system is broken.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: They want to do something about it. They want to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: make polluting more expensive. They want to make sure polluters
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: can't just cover their emissions by purchasing carbon credits and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: planting forests. Yes, they want to put a pause on
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: new forestry registrations and ban people from turning their whole
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: farm into a pine forest. So I'm joined now by
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the chair of Beef and Lamb New Zealand, Kate Acklam.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Kate. Morning, Andrew. Did you like
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the sound of this? Because Labour have always supported the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: ETS scheme.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Well, we do welcome the news that they're looking to
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: put restrictions on whole farm conversions into the ETS. I mean,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: we've had 300,000 hectares of whole sheep and beef farms
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: go into trees in the last seven years. And, you know,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: although the current government's put some restrictions in place, we
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: don't think that's gone far enough.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: OK, so we've got all the coalition partners saying, well, look,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: this whole regulatory framework for pollution is rickety, as I
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: called it. Now we've got Labour joining in as well.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Is this easier to say, though, in theory, rather than
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: to do in practice?
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you're exactly right, and there is reasonably
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: widespread agreement that the ETS isn't working as it should,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: but it is a very difficult thing to fix. So,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: you know, it's a really positive first step that there's
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: agreement on this, but in terms of how it will
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: be fixed, that could take some time.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Is it difficult to fix because the whole world has
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: actually bought into it?
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Well, as the whole world bought into it, I think
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: we're just far enough down the track. There's been enough
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: people investing money in planting forestry that it's very hard
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: to back out of that. I think as a first step,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: probably further restrictions on what types of land can be
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: planted for conversion and whole farm conversion would be something
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: that we would welcome.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: And what Labour was saying yesterday is basically copy and
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: paste after what Simon Upton, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: actually reported back with a report last month. So is
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: that a good thing that they're actually listening to the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: advice that's coming out from people who have looked at
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: it very closely?
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Look, we did welcome that PCE report. We do think
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: it's a good thing. Look, there were some other quite
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: concerning things in that PCE report around methane and training methane,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: but in terms of the forestry piece, yes, absolutely.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: And do you think beef and lamb producers in New
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Zealand are getting more environmentally conscious over the years?
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Look, they absolutely are. I mean, we've had a 30%
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: reduction in emissions since 1990. We're amongst the most emissions-efficient
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: farmers in the world and we're continuing to make those
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: gains and we're making them through efficiency gains and just
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: continually striving to be better. So I think as we
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: look to reduce agricultural emissions, actually stopping farming is not
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: the way to do it. And we sort of welcome
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: this news from the Labour Party because it sounds like
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: they are starting to recognise the importance of the agricultural
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: sector to New Zealand's broader economy.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Good stuff. Kate Ackland, I thank you so much for
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: joining us. Kate is the Chair of Beef and Land
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: New Zealand.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: to News Talk ZB from 5 a.m.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.