Kyoto Responsibility
Certain commentators from the left said I “should be ashamed of myself” for calling for Hodgson to go over the Kyoto blunder.
I did wonder if I was being too harsh ascribing blame at the Ministerial level. But then I read the Press editorial this morning:
“For this [support for withdrawing from Kyoto] the Government has only itself to blame, or, more accurately, Pete Hodgson, the Energy Minister. It was his responsibility to get the calculations right. Not only did he fail to do so but he advocated our participation in the convention, largely, on the carbon credits coming our way.”
But it gets better, and goes on to call him an incompetent Minister:
“In a democracy more demanding of ministerial accountability, Hodgson would today be on the back benches. He is slowly shifting from the energy portfolio to health, but that Cabinet responsibility is even more politically sensitive and complex than is energy. Hodgson’s record gives no confidence that he can be relied on.
Further, his whole administration of the energy portfolio cannot be relied on. If he made so monumental a mistake with the carbon credits, what other mistakes has he made with ensuring the nation’s energy supplies? His performance needs an independent and high powered audit.
With an election approaching and growing concerns about its performance, the Government is unlikely to open one of its senior ministers to scrutiny. But it must move to re-establish confidence in Kyoto. The issues impact heavily on New Zealand’s future prosperity and cannot be left in the control of an incompetent minister. “
Well should the Press be ashamed of itself also?