Bridges chats with retirees
There were scones and sandwiches and talk of Suzuki Swifts at a morning tea meeting with the Leader of the Opposition in New Plymouth.
Simon Bridges spoke with about 80 over-65s at yesterday’s meeting at the Plymouth International Hotel and covered such issues as health, oil and gas exploration and climate change.
He joked often while responding to questions ranging from drugged drivers and housing development to whether he would talk with
TV One’s John Campbell again following an interview on Wednesday in which his leadership of National was scrutinised. An interview on the radio had been worse, Bridges said.
He said taxes on farmers and vehicles were not the answer to climate change. ‘‘You’ll all be driving a Suzuki Swift,’’ he said, before quickly clarifying there was nothing wrong with Swifts.
The quip was in reference to the Government’s suggested scheme that will make it cheaper to own hybrid and fuel efficient cars – part of a wider proposal to remove more than 5 million tonnes of CO2 from the country’s emissions.
National also wanted to reach zero carbon emissions by 2050, but not with the ‘‘ripping off the bandaid’’ methodology of the current government, he said.
It’s not a climate emergency today. It is something we need to work our way through.’’
‘‘I hate this oil and gas ban,’’ Bridges told the crowd, which drew murmurs of support.
If National returned to power, they would reverse the Government’s offshore oil and gas exploration ban, which was aimed to be a move towards a clean energy transition.
He called for the industry to keep applying pressure. ‘‘The squeaky wheel gets the oil,’’ he said.