26 Aug 2008

Fate of emissions trading bill hangs in balance

2:47 pm on 26 August 2008

MPs from the Green and New Zealand First parties are meeting on Tuesday to decide whether to support legislation to set up an emissions trading scheme.

Support is needed from the Greens and New Zealand First parties in order to get the bill through Parliament.

If both parties agree to support the legislation, it will be back before Parliament this week and will become law before the election. But if either party opposes the legislation, the Labour-led Government will have to let it drop.

The Greens have raised concerns that they believe the Government scheme does not go far enough, while New Zealand First worries it might go too far.

National Party leader John Key has criticised the Government's efforts to get support for the bill.

"If it does pass, it'll be some form of camel because it certainly will be rather incoherent, given the diverging views of the Greens and New Zealand First which will be required to get the thing to work," Mr Key says.

"From National's perspective, we've got five or six different principles that we'd need to see applied. If the emissions trading scheme passes before the election and National becomes the government, then we'll be changing [it]."

Mr Key says if the Labour-led Government cannot get support for its bill, then a National-led government would introduce its own scheme.

Last week the Greens asked for public feedback on whether to support the bill and have since received more than 2,500 emails. Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says there have been responses in favour and against.

The Greens will not publicly release its decision on the emissions trading legislation until other parties involved have been informed. New Zealand First will not say whether it will release a decision.