Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
And look it's an absolute privilege to have the graveyard shift in day one of this conference.
I'm aware that everybody has been inundated with wonderful talks today and some really
stimulating thinking, so, I'm just going to attempt to try and draw some of it together
but I think one of the things that we can take great comfort from, there has been so
many stimulating thoughts and so much information, is that we get to come back and continue this
important conversation tomorrow.
But can I before I begin acknowledge our international guests that are here, in particular, the Prime
Minister of the Cook Islands and the Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa.
When we initially begin planning this Summit, it was so important to us that we had some
of our Pacific brothers and sisters here with us, because this is a conversation about our
place in the world, and this is about Aotearoa working with our neighbours in the Pacific
region.
And I also want to acknowledge the contribution to the day from our Prime Minister, the Right
Honourable Jacinda Ardern, and for her leadership on climate change here in New Zealand.
Also I'd like to acknowledge Neil Holdom, the mayor of New Plymouth.
Neil, it's been a real pleasure working with you and I want to thank you, also, for the
leadership that you've shown on behalf of your community.
I was talking to Neil earlier today and I did note to him that it does strike me how
far we've come in this conversation in the just over 12 months since we announced our
decision to end the issuing of new exploration permits for offshore oil and gas in the last
year.
I think we can congratulate ourselves on how far we've progressed to the fact that today
we have over 500 people in this room from such a diverse group of organisations, to
have a mature and world leading conversation about this.
I've also been struck throughout the day by the optimism that is in this room and the
excitement for the opportunities that lie ahead for us - the New Energy Centre, the
research funding that's going to sit alongside that, we've got research organisations here
that have just been waiting for the opportunity to be able to do more.
The MacDiarmid Institute even bought some toys along to have out in the other room to
demonstrate some of the possibilities that lie out there, and I encourage you to visit
all the stalls out there.
And Neil, last night you told me that you were going to ask the government to bring
you a pony.
Well I'm sorry we couldn't deliver you a pony but I think the New Energy Centre here in
Taranaki is a very good start.
And I'd also like to acknowledge the other mayors of this region, Ross Dunlop and Neil
Volzke for your leadership also.
And local MP Jonathan Young who has been with us today.
But I just now want to give you a brief overview of some of my thoughts and bring together
some of what we've been talking about today.
And I want to tell you, as the Minister for Energy and as the Minister that is leading
the Just Transition work for our government how I think about this challenge, and how
I think we go about tackling it together.
First let's start with the challenge we face.
As I see it it's actually pretty simple.
The way our economy is working is putting the survival of our planet at risk, so things
are changing, and they need to change.
There is a transition underway.
Now let me be very clear about my thinking.
A transition is not just treading water, it is not about the maintenance of the status
quo into the never never, it is about change, and we need to change our economy in a faster
pace than that of any economic transformation than we have seen in human history.
As Tony said in the last session, and I thought this was a really telling comment, the transition
is underway there is no debate about that, the only question left is whether or not it
will be a just transition.
We know that this change we need to make is unprecedented, no one has ever attempted it
on this scale at this pace before in terms of what we face as a globe, because no one
else has ever had to at this scale, and this means there's no precedent, there's no guidebook,
there's no manual, so we have to write it, and we have to write it together.
And that's why I believe that this Summit is so important, to get our collective wisdoms
into this room today, to work together, to write this next chapter.
I think it is also important that we take pause and reflect and remind ourselves of
what our international guests have reminded us of today.
That what we are doing here in this region, in this room, is world leading, and it will
be something that the rest of the world will look to as they go through their own transitions.
Because what we have begun charting is a guide, is a map that will guide New Zealand in the
coming years and decades as our country embarks on one of the most important journeys that
we've been on.
And my own thinking on this issue is shaped probably fundamentally by two events and groups
of people.
The first was the community that I grew up in and that was South Christchurch during
the 1980s, so while the Prime Minister was watching reruns of Who's the Boss, I was a
huge moon Madonna fan, but I have vivid memories of also being glued to the royal wedding around
that time as well, but what I also have vivid memories of were the rapid and unplanned economic
changes of their era that happened around me to people in my community.
I remember the Addington railway workshops closing seemingly overnight, and many of my
friends parents and other people in my community losing their jobs overnight.
I remember watching how hard that was for them, how so many of them felt that they just
hadn't lost their jobs but their standing in their community, the way they provided
for their families, the source of their own dignity was ripped away, and they felt powerless.
And these memories have stayed with me and have made me determined that economic change
must be well planned, must be fair, and must treat people with dignity and respect.
And there's another group of people I met a few years ago who have also been important
to shaping my thinking.
Was in December 2015 when I was lucky enough to attend COP21 in Paris.
This was the COP of Hope, the Climate Change Conference where change was going to occur,
hope that we could finally achieve that consensus around taking climate change seriously as
a globe.
Amid all the toing and froing of two degrees versus 1.5 degrees and how the nationally
determined contributions added up, I attended the Just Transition stream organised by the
International Trade Union Confederation.
Here I observed something remarkable, Mining Union delegates banging the table demanding
more ambitious climate action.
Now this was somewhat different to the jobs and economy rhetoric.
The jobs or the economy rhetoric that I had previously been exposed to.
The groove in the record where we seemed to be stuck in some kind of classic hits round
and round.
This was an entirely different frame.
Workers realising their world was changing, that fundamental economic transformation was
taking place, and was set to accelerate, and if they stood back and let that transformation
roll out unabated, this would be yet another chapter of economic change in our history
that saw workers as wit bit players with no control over the way that the story ended.
Instead, in that room, people were arguing that we start planning for the future, for
their family's futures, and their community's futures.
New industries would be coming in this transition, they needed the opportunity to be trained
and the skills, and they needed the opportunity to take part in the conversation about their
future.
Here was a group of people determined that history was not just going to happen to them.
They were determined to achieve a managed transition, where the dignity of work and
communities were considered, a Just Transition.
And here in New Zealand, that is what we must deliver.
Living when we do at this point in our history it begins on all of us collectively in this
room to begin that transition, and we won't be the ones that have to see it all the way
through.
This is a long-term transition that is going to take place.
The job of continuing that transition will fall on those who come after us, and there
is so much at stake for those who do come after us.
Jobs, homes, industries, quality of life of New Zealanders, prosperity, for decades to
come, is what is in the balance when we talk about this change.
As we’ve heard today, if this transition is not well planned, if it is rushed, the
costs of the change will fall on those who are least able to bear it, so for me the question
is, what can we leave to help guide our country in this journey?
What is this chapter that we are writing today?
In each of our own areas of responsibility, what is our role in this transition and what
can we do to ensure it’s a Just and well-managed one?
There's a concept in Māoridom that I think is appropriate here, and it was used in the
very early local discussions about the Summit and the work that was leading up to it, and
that's the idea of pou whenua, the marker poles.
Carved wooden posts used to mark major landmarks and territorial boundaries.
It's also a concept that can mean the leaders or key figures pushing a project forward.
So what then are the pou that can guide us and those who come after us on New Zealand's
journey to a low-carbon economy?
Internationally, as you will have heard, the just transition framework is tripartite, a
three way compact between government, business and working people and their representatives.
But our transition in New Zealand will need its own thinking, its own unique path forward.
To my mind in New Zealand, and this is something that I'm wanting to discuss further with people,
there are five pou here in New Zealand that support this transition.
Five groups that have a vital role to play in the decades to come.
The first so I'm going to say is central government and that's not because I think we're the most
important but I'll start there.
But it is our role to make sure our transition is well planned and managed instead of rushed
and haphazard.
In order to protect against economic shocks in disruptions as we do decarbonise, it's
government's role to set the direction for transition planning, that is well connected
to business and the workforce.
This planning needs to address the challenges posed by a changing climate while also seeking
to create new opportunities for business and industry, and importantly, creating good secure
jobs in the future.
Central government needs to be providing the leadership and impetus, so that region by
region we can have robust economic development plans that chart out the pathway to carbon
neutrality.
Thinking about how energy decisions link up with regional economic development decisions,
how that links up with innovation investments, how these in turn link with education decisions,
and the need for Workforce Planning.
We need to be thinking about the qualifications and skills this economic transformation will
require and the new jobs that will be produced.
We then need to ensure that those qualifications and skills are being offered in the regions
where they are required, and this is work that our government has begun.
We've seen here in Taranaki, we've made the bold decision to call time on new offshore
oil and gas exploration permits, we've invested in the region through the provincial growth
fund, we've put the just transition unit on the ground to work with local leaders.
And I really do want to emphasize that point about being on the ground.
In this digital age we can never forget the real power of those face to face conversations,
of getting in the room together and nutting out the tough issues.
But that's not all we've done, we've baked new energy projects like hydrogen and today
we've seen the further investment in new energy and the launch of the region's 2050 roadmap,
and that's just a start.
It will take successive governments committed to making sure no one is left behind as our
economy changes, but central government cannot do this alone.
It takes leadership in the local community and that's why the second pou that is so important
is local government.
They must ensure that this transition is well-planned at the grassroots, and what we've seen happen
here in Taranaki is enduring regional economic development plans that have been started at
the grassroots level.
It's taken local leadership to bring together the vision, experience and skills from different
parts of the country.
And I genuinely believe that what we've seen in Taranaki’s 2050 roadmap is world-leading
work.
Everyone involved in that piece of work should take immense pride in what they have accomplished,
and I would like to thank everybody who has done that work.
It is a best in class example of grassroots development work in response to the reality
of change.
To do this well around the country, we must ensure that local government can build buy
in amongst local stakeholders and ensure that local people's voices are at the centre of
it.
But to ensure that economic transformation works we need our third pou, and that is the
business sector.
It’s private businesses who will mobilise the innovations, knowledge and skills and
the investment we need to transform our economy.
It will be for business to spot and seize the new opportunities that come from decarbonisation.
Doing this properly will ensure our economy can continue to deliver good living standards
and rising incomes as it changes.
And our transition cannot be considered just without our fourth pou, and that is iwi.
There is a quote from the CTU's Rūnanga in their just transition report that I think
is very apt.
They say, indigenous people want to be part of the change, not have change hoisted upon
them.
For this to be a just transition, it needs to be based on treaty principles, with Māori
and iwi as real partners, involved every step of the way, with specific planning that acknowledges
the unique circumstances and role and status of tangata whenua.
And if we are to have a real partnership, this transition will be so much better for
it.
I recently was talking with an American clean energy expert who told me he was so impressed
with the just transition work our country had been doing, and he said to me that in
no other country in the world were they lucky enough to have been imbued with the Māori
values of kaitiakitanga, that is so critical to the values of the transition that we are
undertaking here in New Zealand.
This will help us progress a just transition in the context of all of our unique circumstances.
This isn't a one-size-fits-all country's approach that will work here.
But for this change to be fair, to be really just, for it to work for working people, we
need our final pou, workers and their representatives, their unions.
If these huge changes in our economy are going to be beneficial for most Kiwis, we need to
accept that a decarbonised economy is not magically one that will lead to better working
lives for people.
Green jobs are not automatically good jobs if they do not come with good incomes and
dignity in the workplace.
We owe our future workers the opportunities of meaningful work that provides adequate
income and social protections, safe working conditions, respect for rights at work, and
effective social dialogues.
So here we have the 5 pou of the just transitions process.
These are our markers, the leaders that will take us forward.
Today, we are all representing one of those pou, and we've begun the most challenging
and exciting journey in our economic history, and this is a journey we can only do well
in if we take that journey together.
I hope you've enjoyed this first day of the summit and I'm looking forward to seeing you
all at the dinner tonight and back bright and early for day two of the summit tomorrow
morning.
Enjoy the rest of your evening.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)