To John Key and others from Alan N 25 June 2010

I am disappointed that the National Government still appears to be going ahead with its ill thought out ETS.

Nick Smith has continually argued that ACT is using misleading information to stir up opposition to the ETS. If anyone can be accused of misleading the public it is Nick Smith who may yet go down in history as being the one single individual that cost National the next election.

I challenge you to prove these following figures false or misleading:

Ranking Country            Has ETS
1                      Australia           No                               
2                      USA                   No                               
3                      China                  No                              
4                      Japan                 No                               
5                      UK                     yes                               
6                      Korea                 No                              
7                      Indonesia            No                              
8                      Singapore           No                             
9                      Hong Kong          No                             
10                     Taiwan                No                            
11                     Germany             Yes
12                     Malaysia             No                              
13                     India                  No                              
14                     Philippines          No                             
15                     France                Yes                           
16                     Canada              No                            
17                     Belgium              Yes                           
18                     Saudi Arabia        No                           
19                     Netherlands        Yes                          
20                     Thailand             No                           

As you can see 9 of our top 10 trading partners do not have an ETS contrary to figures Nick Smith has promoted. Furthermore only 5 of our top 20 trading partners have an ETS and they are all grouped together in Europe and as 80% of their trade is within Europe. I would also like to know how many New Zealanders you think will not buy products from countries other than UK, France, Belgium, Germany or the Netherlands based on whether or not they have an ETS.

I would like to record my opposition to the ETS and urge you to defer any introduction until such time as our major trading partners USA, China and Australia decide there is a case for doing so.

I have said previously New Zealand does not again have to be a world leader in such an expensive scheme without any guarantee that others will follow. It will make our goods more expensive in our overseas markets.

It will also add an unwarranted burden on the tax paying public.

Alan N

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