Free Press

ACT’s regular bulletin

Outstanding Conference
ACT held a well-attended and highly positive conference on the weekend. The media described it with words such as ‘upbeat.’ You can read David Seymour’s keynote speech here.

A Surprising Finding
New figures were released for MPs’ expenditures on flights at the end of last week. Amazingly, the Greens are the biggest flyers in parliament, with their MPs averaging $8,563 each over three months.

C’mon James
Green Co-leader James Shaw likes to tell the story of how, as a management consultant, he used to help companies economise on flying to reduce their emissions. The Green caucus must be his toughest client.

Indulgences for Sale
The Reformation kicked off in large part because Martin Luther resented the Catholic Church’s practice of selling indulgences. In those days you could sin with impunity if you made a contribution to the local priest. Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door at Wittenberg and the rest is history.

Carbon Offsets, the New Indulgence
The Greens claim that their flying is ok because they ‘offset’ their credits. Free Press wonders about this, have they ever provided proof? According to a 2006 press release when Jeanette Fitzsimmons (an environmentalist) ran the Greens, they were paying $20 per tonne of CO2, or about $3 on an Auckland-Wellington flight.

Is it Credible?
The Greens position seems to be that climate change is the crisis of our time but when they fly simply paying $3 on an Auckland-Wellington flight makes it go away.

No Electorates
Electorate MPs like David Seymour must be in their electorates every week and in parliament nearly every week, especially if they are an Under-Secretary or Minister with executive responsibilities. The
Greens haven’t held an electorate since 1999 so where on earth do they go?

Time for a Reformation
The Greens have become professional politicians whose lifestyle has little to do with the environment and smacks of hypocrisy. It is time for a reformation that ends their monopoly on pious Greenery.

Something More Positive
David Seymour unveiled ACT’s new environmental policies on the weekend, you can read them here.

The Four ‘P’s of Free Market Environmentalism
ACT believes in the four ‘P’s. Private initiative, because so much voluntary conservation goes unsung. Prosperity, because wealthy societies can afford to be environmentalists. Prices, because accurate pricing conserves resources. Finally, property rights, because people conserve what they have an interest in.

Sell Landcorp
The Headline policy is selling the underperforming farming company, Landcorp, and using the proceeds to set up a private trust: Sanctuary Trust. The Trust would award conditional grants to community groups operating wildlife sanctuaries such as Zealandia, Brooks Sanctuary, and Maungatautari.

Sanctuaries
Sanctuaries have the aim of eradicating pests and allowing native species to regenerate. They often have a predator-proof fence that may be up to 50 km around. They are expensive to set up, and ACT believes the Government would be far better giving them a boost than owning some farms.

Carbon Tax
The ETS has turned out to be a rort. ACT has long said the government should scrap it. It should be replaced by a revenue-neutral carbon tax, initially set at $0. If in future people decide they want to pay more carbon tax and less income tax that’s fine. It would be more honest than the rorty Emissions Trading Scheme.

Road User Charges
The petrol tax is highly inefficient because it’s not time-sensitive. It’s like saying that if you buy kerosene you can fly on any plane, any time. There would be chaos at airports half the time and empty planes the other half. Of course airlines vary prices to manage demand, and ACT says the government should dump the carbon tax and follow cities such as Stockholm who charge different amounts at different times for driving, smoothing out congestion.

Water Markets
Currently local governments issue water rights for up to 35 years on a first-come-first-served basis. There is no incentive to conserve if your rights are guaranteed and you can’t easily sell them. ACT supports the Land and Water Forum’s moves to introduce tradeable water rights.

ENDS

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