Rahui Katene, Maori Party climate change spokesperson, Checkpoint interview [Audio], August 31 2009:
Mary Wilson: What about your views on agriculture? Bringing that in earlier?The new scheme they will be voting for delays the entry of agriculture into the ETS by two years, until 2015. Some "bottom line".Rahui Katene: We would want it to... definitely it needs to be part of an emissions trading scheme, and that is something that agriculture is opposed to but we think it needs to come in.
MW: By what date?
RK: Coming in earlier would certainly help.
MW: And what's earlier?
RK: Well we see it a lot earlier than 2013 anyway, which is what other parties are saying.
MW: Much earlier than that?
RK: I think that that should happen, or we think that that should happen, at least within the next two years rather than within the next four or even five.
MW: And that's something that you're going to put up for negotiations with National?
RK: I think that's something that we can put as a bottom line.
MW: A bottom line?
RK: Well its one of those things when you look at how many emissions we have, where those emissions are coming from, agriculture is around 50% of our emissions, and we really need to be pushing the line that everybody needs to be taking this seriously.
MW: And a bottom line for the Maori Party is that agriculture should be brought in by 2011.
RK: it needs to be there, it really does need to be included.
