Further environmental mismanagement is on the agenda

The Government’s resource management reforms will contribute to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is placing on our environment.

“This legislation will accelerate the degradation of our natural world and add fuel to the fire of the climate crisis in what is yet another classic case of environmental mismanagement by this administration,” said Green Party environmental spokesperson Lan Pham.

“This is an absurd dereliction of duty that will do nothing to build the infrastructure New Zealand needs, but will instead accelerate environmental degradation.

“The government is determined to push our natural environment to the brink and exploit everything it can for whatever profit it can squeeze out.

“Stopping work to protect important natural areas will harm native biodiversity and destroy the plants and animals that distinguish Aotearoa from the rest of the world.

“The repeal of winter grazing regulations will worsen the pollution of our waterways and increase the level of harm our animals are exposed to. For decades, successive governments have allowed farms to be run like factories, with a profit-at-any-cost approach. This represents another step in the wrong direction.

“Relaxing the mining consent process is as unscientific as it is dangerous for people and the planet. If anyone needs one basic rule to address the climate crisis, it would be to stop burning fossil fuels.

“This government’s actions will go down in history as the most anti-environmental measures we have ever seen.

“Rolling back freshwater protections will accelerate the demise of one of our most valuable natural resources. Due to decades of neglect, many of our rivers and lakes are unsafe for swimming, while native freshwater species that depend on the health of our water are threatened with extinction. This situation is urgent, something the government chooses to ignore.

“Almost half (45 percent) of the total river length in New Zealand was not suitable for activities such as swimming between 2016 and 2020 based on the risk of infection with Campylobacter. A shocking 68 percent of native freshwater birds were threatened or at risk of extinction in 2021. It is also now estimated that only 10 percent of our historic wetlands remain, despite these being vital to the survival of many endangered plants and animals. .

“Future generations will remember this government for its blatant disregard for the natural world,” said Lan Pham.