Climate change: NZ must surrender the profits of fraud

Last week the government's use of dodgy Ukrainian emissions units hit the news, with a report from the Morgan Foundation accusing it of "climate fraud". The government felt this was serious enough that Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett was forced to admit on Q&A that it was not right and that they won't do it again. But while she's said she's waiting for advice on whether to cancel the AAU we saved by paying our Kyoto obligations in fraudulent hot air, I'm not holding my breath. That would involve doing the right thing. Besides, it was all "within the rules" so everything's OK, and it'll all cost too much, so we can't afford to. And so the march to oblivion continues.

This isn't good enough. Our government has just admitted committing fraud. Its not enough that it promises not to do it again - it has to make restitution for that fraud. And that means surrendering the profits of that fraud, the fraudulently-retained AAU. They apply that logic to criminals; the government should be held to the same standard it seeks to hold others to. And if it thinks that's too much, we should rightly ask why they seek to have one set of laws for us, and another for them.