NO MORE 'BLAH, BLAH, BLAH'

The job of Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is to peddle the fiction that his government is taking climate change seriously. But he's been called out by young activists from School Strike 4 Climate.


IN THE six months since it took office, the National-led coalition government has taken the axe to a slew of measures designed to combat climate change. At the same time, it has made no significant new investment in policy designed to provide either environmental protection or combat climate change. Betraying a disturbing lack of understanding and appreciation of the existential crisis that climate change represents, it has announced its intention to open up the country to the nefarious designs of the mining, oil and gas industries. It has decided to put the short-term interests of capital ahead of the long-term interests of the environment. As Green co-leader Chloe Swarbrick has observed: 'The Government is tipping oil and gas onto the climate crisis fire, lining the pockets of fossil fuel companies, while everyone else will pick up the bill.'

The coalition government's 2024 Budget announced the sweeping cuts that are in store for dozens of climate-related policies. Yet Climate Change Minister Simon Watts, in a carefully worded media release, claimed that his Government would continue to back 'responsible and effective climate related initiatives that support New Zealand to reduce emissions, and adapt to the future effects of climate change are a priority.'

Simon Watts might think that 'you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time' but, on the issue of climate change at least, he has quickly discovered that you 'cannot fool all the people all of the time'. That's especially true in the case of the young generation who will inherit the mess that politicians like Simon Watts will leave behind them if we continue on our present disastrous path.

Yesterday, at a Christchurch conference organised by the Environment Defence Society (EDF), the speech by the Climate Change Minister was drowned out by young activists from School Strike 4 Climate. Watts eventually gave up and departed. He declined to answer any of the questions that were put to him.

In a press statement, activist Lucia Campbell-Reeves said: 'Simon Watts was standing there spreading greenwashed lies while his government wages a violent war on Papatuanuku (Earth Mother). We refuse to stand by while the government is pushing through the Fast Track Bill and just approved new oil and gas exploration licences. Simon knows damn well that we cannot afford to burn more fossil fuels, but he's only in it for the money. He needs to either stand up and fight for our futures or resign.'

The EDF has already attacked the coalition government for its 'unacceptable, preposterous attack on nature'. Yet chief executive Gary Taylor, in his late sixties, chose to criticise School Strike 4 Climate for not allowing Watts to speak, commenting that he had been 'looking forward to hearing what the minister had to say.'

One wonders what Taylor expected to hear from a Climate Change Minister whose principal job is to try to disguise his government's attack on nature.  Unlike Taylor, the new generation of activists have decided that the time for talking is over, especially since the politicians are not listening. It isn't enough to call climate change an emergency, emergency action is required as well.

Despite the fact that the impact of climate change has not been reversed and 2023 was the hottest year on record, Taylor seems to think that we can continue to hope that politicians will do the right thing. But activist groups like School Strike 4 Climate have decided that direct action is now required, and that it is increasingly the only viable and realistic way to bring about the political and social change that is urgently demanded.

In another one of his typically considered and informed comments, Shane Jones has described the young activists as 'protesting barnacles'. But the arrogance and intransigence on display from the Minister of Resources only serves to confirm the view of Greta Thunberg, the unofficial leader of the School Strike 4 Climate movement:

'We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.'