9 November 2012

ETS destroyed, now Government gets to work on Kyoto

The National Government announced today it is withdrawing from global efforts under the Kyoto Protocol to fight climate change and instead aligning with countries who will just talk about it, Green Party climate change spokesperson Kennedy Graham said.

Today Australia announced it, like 36 other countries, would sign up to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Protocol is a global agreement with binding obligations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The first commitment period stops at the end of the year and Climate Change Minister Tim Groser has repeatedly refused to answer Green Party questions about New Zealand’s ongoing reduction targets.

“Australia today pledged to sign up to a second period and stated what its targets would be. In response the National Government had admitted it won’t be signing and will instead support the UN Framework Convention,” Dr Graham said.

“That means committing to producing hot air at talks but not agreeing to legally binding measures to reduce emissions.

“Not content yesterday to pass a law to gut New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme the National Government is now out to undermine any international credibility the nation ever had on climate change.

“In his statement Tim Groser talks about aligning with ‘major economies’ omitting that many other countries, and the European Union, are in the pro-Kyoto camp and want to take real action to combat climate change.

“Australia understands that its businesses need certainty for the future and that by acting now it can save money. The National Government is obsessed with short-term costs and ignores the risk to our clean green brand and economy of global warming.”

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>