Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

New Zealand needs high speed broadband across urban and rural areas. Our future
networks will rely primarily on fibre, but we accept there are parts of New Zealand that will
struggle to get access to fibre in the near future because of geographical isolation.
Labour will ensure such remote areas are given priority under the Rural Broadband
Initiative for access via satellite, wireless or other means.
See Labour‟s Information and Communications Technology Policy for further details.
Emissions Trading Scheme
Agriculture is New Zealand‟s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing over
47% of the total. As such its inclusion in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is vital if the
scheme is to be successful in lowering New Zealand‟s emissions. Agriculture‟s entry to the
scheme was deferred until 2015 by National. Agricultural emissions are projected to be 25%
above their 1990 levels by 2020 and this delay could impinge on New Zealand‟s ability to
meet our Kyoto commitments while incurring a significant cost to the taxpayer.
As consumers are becoming more concerned about climate change impacts and demanding
lower carbon intensity food, the adoption of the ETS and low carbon farming techniques will
become a competitive advantage for New Zealand‟s agricultural sector. The challenge is to
introduce agriculture into the ETS and support uptake of new low carbon farming systems
without severely impacting on farm profitability in the short to medium term.
Labour will support New Zealand‟s farmers and agricultural sector to significantly
reduce carbon emissions as part of shifting the industries focus to producing high
value, sustainable exports.
Labour will commit agriculture to the ETS at the original date of 2013, starting with
10% of liable emissions phasing up over 12 years. In this way taxpayers reduce their
liability while farmers are encouraged to adopt carbon reduction farming methods.
Labour will provide additional support for research and implementation of better
farming practices through increases to the Government‟s contribution to the
Sustainable Farming Fund.
Labour will support the growing knowledge and investment in Biochar and Soil
Carbon technologies that may allow farmers new methods of carbon sequestration in
their farming systems.
Labour will continue funding to the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas
Research Centre to support the development carbon neutral farming technology.
Water
Water is precious and the most vital component of New Zealand‟s biological production
systems. Systems of allocation and management vary throughout the country and often do
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