In a speech to the Blue Greens forum (where Maggie Barry was welcomed as a new member) held in Akaroa 29th Jan, Nick Smith made the following claim-

“The best estimate of annual premature deaths from air pollution is 1640 per year or about four times the road toll.”

I challenge Nick Smith to name three of these 1640 people or be exposed as a liar.

Nick Smith also said this-

“The concepts of green growth, green jobs and cleantech are attracting international attention with the work of the OECD and the United Nations. This is about New Zealand applying some of our best private sector minds to how we ensure we take up these green growth opportunities to support the Government’s broader economic growth strategy.”

How about we just leave government and the UN out of it and allow the private sector to deal with it. We know that these kind of schemes are just fronts for socialist style handouts to “winners” picked by Nick Smith and his cohorts. Some people call it cronyism. Studies show that in the big picture, undue focus on environmental issues costs jobs and has detrimental economic effects. Do Smith and his band of zealots know this? How could they not?

Wait, there is more- “Last year we saw 800MW of new generation consented – 45% geothermal, 40% wind and 15% hydro; all 100% renewable.”

So wind farms are to be producing 320MW of electricity on a regular basis? I say that’s another blatant misrepresentation. For some realism on wind farms in NZ read this Herald article.

Here’s more nonsense-

The Government is proposing to gazette under the Climate Change Response Act 2002 a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Even Smith admits this is problematical- “This target will require New Zealand to reduce net emissions by 31 million tonnes a year. This is a very big ask when nearly half our emissions come from agriculture and when we already produce 70% of our electricity from renewables. It will only be achievable with major technological innovations in areas like agriculture and transport, which are quite possible over this timeframe.

Quite possible? By what means pray tell? This is just more pie in the sky Blue/ Green propaganda. These charlatans need to be kicked out of the National Party before they bankrupt the country. Its a measure of the party’s ineffectiveness that they allow this emotive junk science based rubbish to affect their decision making processes. Here are three good reasons to banish the far left Nick Smith and his acolytes-

1) Environmental zealotry leading to excessive government interference in and control over the lives of its citizens is incompatible with the National Party’s stated principles relating to small government and regard for individual rights and property rights.

2) Global warming is a scam. Even if it wasn’t a scam, NZ’s contributions to solving any perceived problems would be negligible. How do I know this? Nick Smith told me so. A Collection of Quotes From NZ’s Most Despicable Politician

3) NZ’s economic position is, like that of many other countries in the world, extremely parlous at the moment. Its no time to put our economy under further stress and at further risk by introducing wrongheaded poorly justified policies that have proven to be counter effective in other parts of the globe. PM Gillard has just been forced to postpone Green inititatives in Australia as they are considered too costly to implement during the flood recovery period. Didn’t NZ just have a pretty costly earthquake in Christchurch?

Key and the Nats are merely pandering to the radical left by continuing to allow Smith and his crazy faction any credibility. There is probably not a claim they make relating to perceived problems or any claimed solutions that can stand a milligram of scrutiny. If there is anybody left in the National Party with a brain, they need to get Smith and his collection of zealots and gullible fools and downright frauds, (that due to their ideological incompatibility have no real business being in the National Party), out of our lives.