Maori forest owners will not get any preferential treatment under an emissions trading scheme (ETS) deal National is negotiating with the Maori Party, Climate Change Minister Nick Smith said today.
The two parties are working through 10 sticking points that need to be sorted out before the Maori Party will give their five votes to pass the Government's climate change legislation.
One of the issues is how forest owners are dealt with in the ETS in the way they are rewarded for planting more trees or penalised when they cut them down.
Some have accused the Government of doing a deal in private with the Maori Party that might see Maori businesses dealt with differently.
Dr Smith told Parliament today this was not true.
"It is not the Government's intention or the intention of the Maori Party to have specific amendments to the emissions trading scheme that would give any preferential right to Maori owned or iwi owned forests," Dr Smith said.
There was an issue in that five iwi - including Ngai Tahu - who had settled treaty claims argued that they should be revisited as the settlement did not take into account that the ETS would change their value.
Dr Smith said the Government wanted to talk though this as it did not want to face a legal challenge or another claim to the Waitangi Tribunal.
The iwi argue that they should have been told about the implications of the ETS and since they weren't, the settlements should be re-negotiated.
Dr Smith said the Government believed that all settlements were full and final.
"Governments need to have the flexibility to respond to new issues like climate change without it reopening treaty settlements. But equally so, this Government is committed to the integrity of treaty settlements, and if there has been misunderstandings about them, it is proper that the Government seeks to resolve those issues."
Dr Smith also told journalists another issue for iwi was they wished to be allowed to grow trees on Department of Conservation land.
"It would be odd for DOC to be prepared to do deals with foreign companies to be able to carbon farm on New Zealand conservation land, and not be prepared to do so with iwi and other New Zealanders," he told reporters.
It was unlikely trees planted on DOC land would be harvested, rather they would be a "long-term carbon sink".
Questions were also raised today about a last minute increase in Treasury's estimates of the cost to taxpayers of the ETS changes.
Labour leader Phil Goff said it was a "$50 billion blunder".
"You can't go ahead with a scheme that was based on figures that were $50b out and of course 98 percent of that cost will be met by households, by families paying taxes and not by the emitters."
Prime Minister John Key said the Treasury numbers were "a nonsense".
"Treasury can't tell us what the deficit is going to be in December, let alone what's happening in 2030 or 2040.
"There are a number of moving parts here -- carbon price, our international obligations, what technology is going to deliver," he said.
Mr Key said the difference in National's ETS in comparison to Labour's was that it was piling on costs to businesses to raise money for the Government.
Labour argued that the changes would reward polluters at the cost of the taxpayer.
Dr Smith said he hoped to have the legislation passed by Christmas to give foresters certainty and prevent dramatic increases in power prices.
However, he could not say when an agreement would be reached with the Maori Party.
The changes need to be enacted before January 1 because on that date the previous government's ETS starts to take effect.
