Government should listen to Royal Society on trade deficit

Media Release from Dr. Russel Norman, Green Party Co-Leader

26th September 2006

Today’s merchandise trade deficit shows once again why we need to reduce our dependence on imported oil, and the Royal Society has just released a report with some of the solutions, says the Green Party.

The annual trade deficit to August 2006 was $6.5 billion and the annual imports of petroleum and petroleum products were $5.6 billion, equivalent to 86% of the deficit.

“The just-released Report of the Energy Panel of the Royal Society of New Zealand has a number of excellent recommendations for dramatically reducing our dependence on oil by 2020,” says Russel Norman, Green Co-Leader.

“The Government should take heed of the proposals to phase out the use of fossil fuels in transport and electricity generation by 2020, such as investing in biofuels and renewable electricity generation,” according to Dr. Norman, also the Greens’ Economics Spokesperson.

“These recommendations have a lot in common with the Green Party’s Turn Down the Heat proposals from this year and our Peak Oil Toolkit from last year.

“If the Government was serious about addressing the chronic trade deficit and climate change it would get serious about reducing oil use and it would seriously consider the proposals of the Royal Society.

"Reducing our dependence on imported oil would not only help to correct the trade deficit, it would be good for the environment by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, and it would be good for people caught between inadequate public transport and rising petrol prices."

ENDS

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