KEY POINTS:
The National Party has criticised the Government for briefing a grouping of business interests on its proposed delays of parts of the emissions trading scheme a month before telling the select committee.
The Finance and Expenditure committee yesterday released an interim report for the Emissions Trading Bill which included an officials' briefing to the Climate Change Leadership Forum on the proposal to delay phasing out of free allocations to industry for five years.
The briefing was presented in April, a month before Climate Change Minister David Parker took the proposals to the select committee last week.
The committee's interim report says it does not intend to seek submissions on the proposed changes, but wants to discuss them publicly.
In its minority report, National criticises the Government for presenting the proposal to the forum - a grouping of business interests - a month before the committee itself was given it. It says it "raised questions about the relevance of the select committee process".
National's report says the party has major concerns about the committee process for what it describes as "the most significant bill in the term of this Parliament, with very significant and long-term implications for every sector of the New Zealand economy".
The briefing by the Emissions Trading Group - government officials - says delaying the phase-out of free emissions allocations until 2018 could cost the Crown an estimated $1.3 billion over five years in lost revenue.
