Back Benches 21 September 2011

THIS WEEK ON BACK BENCHES: Watch Wallace Chapman, Damian Christie, the Back Benches Panel and special guests discuss the week’s hottest topics!

ETS—ENVIRONMENTAL TRADING SLOW-DOWN?: The new Caygill review of the ETS puts agriculture equal to other industries but will the Government be letting farmers off the hook? The review panel says we should stay on track to bring agriculture into the ETS scheme by 2015 but Climate Change Minister Nick Smith said that farmers would only be included if there were “practical technologies…available to enable farmers to reduce their emissions,” and if other countries reduced their emissions, too. So what does this mean for our ETS? Does Nick Smith have a point? Is it fair to omit those responsible for nearly half of our emissions? Does tiny New Zealand need to be leading the world on bringing farmers into the ETS if the trading partners won’t follow suit? Is not putting farmers in the ETS–just another form of a Government handout?

HAVING IT ALL? This week we mark Woman’s suffrage. It’s been 118 years since women secured the right to vote but are they any better off? Can women have it all? Pay equality? Jobs and families? Or does suffrage also mean sacrifice? Does the Government need to do more to close the gap between men & women?

Join us for a night of LIVE pub politics from the Backbencher Pub: Wednesday, 21st of September. Our Panel: Green Party MP Keith Locke, Labour MP Annette King and National MP John Hayes.