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Download AudioGreen Party MP Teanau Tuiono says concerns by Māori foresters over the emissions trading scheme need to be balanced against making the scheme effective.
The High Court has knocked back a challenge Maori trade group Te Taumata to proposed changes to the ETS, with Te Taumata Chair Chris Karamea Insley accusing Green Party co-leader and Climate Change minister James Shaw of bias against pine forestry.
Uncertainty over the ETS has driven the price of carbon units down to around $56, which Te Taumata says is costing Maori landowners billion of dollars of potential income from otherwise unproductive land.
Mr Tuiono says while he supports greater Maori involvement in decision-making, the Green Party believes saving the climate is important to everyone on the planet.
“The main thing with the ETS, what it needs to be doing is actually bring emissions down – and everything else on top of that is all about making sure that’s done in the most equitable way possible. Um , you know, the ETS is getting bumpy,” he says.
Te Taumata says it will continue legal action against the ETS proposals until Government recognises Maori must be properly consulted over policies which pose a major threat to their people, property rights, and future economic opportunties.
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