ISSUE
Friday, August 22, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 73
Building a good society needs more than short term politics and sound bites. It needs a vision and a strategy for the future. The new Green Party co-Leader, James Shaw, has invited the Prime Minister to set aside petty politics and work together to tackle climate change, the most serious threat to our country, our planet and all people. We need a long term approach that builds public support for a united approach, with stable policies across successive governments.
We know what is needed at the global level to avoid worsening impacts for us and for vulnerable people in developing countries, including small farmers, low-lying areas of Asia and Pacific islands. New Zealand needs to signal to the United Nations that we are willing to bear our fair share of the responsibility to take action, instead of making excuses. We all need a global agreement at the conference in Paris in December.
We also know what we have to do in New Zealand. A long term approach would map out a pathway to reduce and then eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, while planting more trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
And we know how to do it. Effective action needs a price on pollution to ensure that polluters pay the cost and to provide economic incentives to switch to clean alternatives. We need investment in rail, buses and safe cycleways so people have alternatives to using their cars, policies to accelerate solar power on our rooftops and electric cars, to insulate houses, and to reduce the emissions from agriculture. These actions will provide benefits to us all. We can have lower emissions together with more liveable cities, healthier lives, cleaner rivers and economic opportunities in the fastest growing sectors of the global economy.
It is a shame that Prime Minister has rejected the offer from the Green Party for cross-Party collaboration. Political point scoring is holding us back. Important long term issues should be above petty politics. We need the kind of politics that looks ahead and prepares us for the future. It’s time for better policies and better politics.
See the Green Party website for details www.greens.org.nz.Barry Coates is on the Green Party list, just outside Parliament. He was formerly the eExecutive Director of Oxfam New Zealand.
Building a good society needs more than short term politics and sound bites. It needs a vision and a strategy for the future. The new Green Party co-Leader, James Shaw, has invited the Prime Minister to set aside petty politics and work together to tackle climate change, the most serious threat to...
Building a good society needs more than short term politics and sound bites. It needs a vision and a strategy for the future. The new Green Party co-Leader, James Shaw, has invited the Prime Minister to set aside petty politics and work together to tackle climate change, the most serious threat to our country, our planet and all people. We need a long term approach that builds public support for a united approach, with stable policies across successive governments.
We know what is needed at the global level to avoid worsening impacts for us and for vulnerable people in developing countries, including small farmers, low-lying areas of Asia and Pacific islands. New Zealand needs to signal to the United Nations that we are willing to bear our fair share of the responsibility to take action, instead of making excuses. We all need a global agreement at the conference in Paris in December.
We also know what we have to do in New Zealand. A long term approach would map out a pathway to reduce and then eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, while planting more trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
And we know how to do it. Effective action needs a price on pollution to ensure that polluters pay the cost and to provide economic incentives to switch to clean alternatives. We need investment in rail, buses and safe cycleways so people have alternatives to using their cars, policies to accelerate solar power on our rooftops and electric cars, to insulate houses, and to reduce the emissions from agriculture. These actions will provide benefits to us all. We can have lower emissions together with more liveable cities, healthier lives, cleaner rivers and economic opportunities in the fastest growing sectors of the global economy.
It is a shame that Prime Minister has rejected the offer from the Green Party for cross-Party collaboration. Political point scoring is holding us back. Important long term issues should be above petty politics. We need the kind of politics that looks ahead and prepares us for the future. It’s time for better policies and better politics.
See the Green Party website for details www.greens.org.nz.Barry Coates is on the Green Party list, just outside Parliament. He was formerly the eExecutive Director of Oxfam New Zealand.
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