Activist climate lawsuits shown the door

The Government’s decision to shut down climate change tort claims against businesses is a long-overdue victory for New Zealand’s farmers, exporters, and productive economy, ACT Agriculture spokesperson Mark Cameron says.

“Activists have tried to weaponise the courts to force radical climate ideology onto the very industries that feed, clothe, and power this country. We’re putting an end to their lawfare.

“If these claims were allowed to succeed, every farmer, processor, exporter, energy company, and manufacturer in New Zealand would face years of uncertainty from politically motivated litigation designed to punish lawful economic activity.

“New Zealanders elect governments to make climate policy through Parliament, not judges in courtrooms responding to activist campaigns.

“This bill rightly recognises that any responsibility around emissions rests with central government through nationally consistent mechanisms like the ETS.

“ACT would go further and get regional councils’ fingers out of the pie too.

“For years, councils have used the Resource Management Act to pile climate-related restrictions onto landowners and productive businesses, despite emissions already being managed nationally. It’s duplicative, ideological, and economically destructive.

“You cannot have every council in New Zealand trying to run its own mini climate crusade against farmers and rural communities.

“That’s why I have lodged a Member's Bill to stop regional councils using the RMA to suppress productive land use in the name of climate policy.

“Rural communities are sick and tired of being treated like villains by professional activists and bureaucrats who have never milked a cow, balanced a farm budget, or met a payroll.

“Kiwi farmers are already producing some of the most emissions-efficient food on Earth. The last thing they need is endless litigation from activist lawyers in the courts and endless red tape from activist planners in council offices."