Shaw seeks greener pastures
people drunk on the money still to be made from fossil fuels.
He wasn’t helped last week when, mere hours after his valedictory, Green MP Julie Anne Genter left her seat in the debating chamber, went over to National Party Cabinet minister Matt Doocey and ranted in his face. It was so wrong, for so many reasons. Most obviously, because Parliament must be a safe space for democratic debate.
Also, she badly compromised her party. A string of National MPs have been accused of bullying behaviour in recent years, which many commentators (including me) have said exposes a sense of entitlement baked into that party’s DNA. Genter joins an unhappy list of Green MPs who invite us to consider if something is also amiss in their party make-up.
Having said that, I confess to considerable sympathy for her, especially because the issue at stake was transport policy. Genter had listened to yet another defence of the indefensible, as Doocey and his colleagues declared their transport plans will improve our lives.
But the evidence from here and overseas is overwhelming: the Government’s transport policies will make emissions, congestion, road safety, public health and the cost of living worse.
“Read the report!” shouted Genter, clearly furious the Government is yet again ignoring the evidence of the damage that will be done.
Sadly, she drowned out her own message: the shouting was reported, but not what she was shouting about.
As for Shaw himself, he must have wondered what he had done to make his own colleague obliterate his moment to be memorable. Genter swallowed up all the oxygen available to the Greens that evening and over the next day. She led the news; his speech did not.
And yet it was a brilliant speech: insightful, challenging, generous and frequently very funny.
Many observers like to think of Shaw as a “Blue-Green”, by which they probably mean he’s a sensible moderate chap, unlike the dangerous radicals he’s been consorting with.
Shaw, for his part, has always said the social reforms promoted by “Red-Greens” are intrinsic to his own beliefs. You can’t seriously fight climate change if you don’t recognise that the people it hurts the most, locally and globally, are already the most marginalised.
But are Blue-Greens really even a thing? National likes to say it has many Blue-Green MPs, from the Prime Minister on down. But if that’s true, and if they really do respect Shaw, will they respect his legacy?
A string of government measures that will raise emissions suggests not. From cancelling the EV rebate to raising public transport fares, there’s good evidence this Government cares far too little about climate action.
Now the big test has arrived. The Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill is sponsored by National’s Infrastructure Minister, Chris Bishop. He’s another supposed BlueGreen.
Is he? Fair to say he’s not a gleeful champion of the dark side, like Sith Lord Jonesy and his “goodbye Freddie” and “dig, baby, dig” rhetoric.
NZ First’s Minister for Regional Development and Resources, Shane Jones, appears to think that elegantly phrased jokes obscure the malevolence of his intent. “Gone are the days of the multicoloured skink, the kiwi, many other species that have been weaponised to deny regional New Zealand communities their right to a livelihood,” he told Parliament.
He’s talking about species extinction. Reducing the biodiversity that safeguards us against biological catastrophe, even though we are already the country doing this faster than any other.
But for all Jones’ bluster, it’s Bishop doing the real damage. If his bill becomes law, three “development” ministers (and not the Environment Minister) will be empowered to green-light projects in mining, transport, energy and other infrastructure, without having to worry about conflicts of interest, accept expert advice or justify their decisions. They will be able to approve projects rejected by the courts. Public input and even the information we receive will be limited.
It’s a recipe for environmental disaster and political corruption.
The Auditor-General, John Ryan, has formally expressed his concern and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, former National minister Simon Upton, has warned of the “significant environmental risks”.
They and many other critics have called for a raft of changes. Principally, they want the ministers not to have the final say.
If Luxon, Bishop and all their BlueGreen colleagues really do respect James Shaw, they will change the Fast-track Approvals Bill.
But there’s another possibility. Trampling democratic processes and the environment and bugger the climate: that’s what some of the donors who made record contributions last year to all three coalition parties were hoping to buy, isn’t it?
Good luck to James Shaw, moving into the world of high finance. Somebody’s got to do it.