Leaders clash over ‘clean, green’ NZ
CHRISTCHURCH: Labour leader Jacinda Ardern accused her National Party counterpart Judith Collins of putting New Zealand’s ‘‘clean, green’’ brand at stake during a fiery leaders’ debate in Christchurch last night.
But Ms Collins dismissed this as a ‘‘silly’’ line, adding that National’s promise to boost the tech sector — including science and engineering — would mean agriculture could boom while still meeting climate targets.
There was a particularly intense exchange during The
Press leaders’ debate at the Christchurch Town Hall over climate change and farming, where Ms Collins praised the agriculture sector’s importance to the export economy.
‘‘Understand this: there is no free lunch for us in this world. We are a little country that has to fight for every trade deal,’’ Ms Collins said.
‘‘We need to wake up . . . We have to pay for health. We have to pay for education.’’
Ms Ardern retorted that farmers were already playing their part in the climate change conversation, making New Zealand a world leader, despite the country’s relatively tiny contribution to global emissions.
‘‘Unless we move on this, we will be left behind and we will lose our brand. Dairying is doing well . . . as we work on these environment issues together.
‘‘It is a sad day when we give up on our reputation of being clean and green.’’
Ms Ardern repeatedly asked Ms Collins what National’s plan was on climate change, and Ms Collins said the tech sector was the single biggest gamechanger.
‘‘I don’t know how data centres are going to help climate change,’’ Ms Ardern said.
Ms Collins: ‘‘You don’t understand technology if you think it’s a data centre. I should take her to some tech places.’’
Ms Collins put an emphasis on growing the economy through several policies, including National’s temporary tax cuts — which Ms Ardern described as ‘‘an unaffordable sugar hit’’.
Ms Ardern’s opening and closing statements centred on the Covid response to sway voters to pick stability, adding that change could upset the gains New Zealand had already won.
In a generational moment, Ms Collins defined ‘‘wokeness’’ as a ‘‘lot of nonsense’’, while Ms Ardern said it meant ‘‘huge selfawareness’’. —