“In a world first, the Government has postponed responding to an emergency. The Government declared a ‘Climate Emergency’ last year, now it’s delayed its Emissions Reduction Plan by five months,” says ACT’s Climate Change spokesperson Simon Court.
“What it should do is immediately adopt ACT’s plan to move parliament to a four-day week. A four-day week would reduce MPs’ flights to Parliament by 25 per cent, because they’d come for fewer weeks.
“Jacinda Ardern called climate change “her generation’s nuclear free moment,” and once even said it was “life or death” and yet her Government imported a million tonnes of coal last year – a record level, now it’s not even meeting its own standards.
“It’s a joke to say the Government is taking climate change seriously. Instead of Climate Change Minister James Shaw flying halfway across the world to have a talk about it, maybe he should stay here and meet his own deadline for the Emissions Reduction Plan.
“The Government will go into urgency at the drop of a hat. Whether it’s the Regulatory Systems Transport Amendment Bill, Annual Reporting and Audit Timeframes Extensions Legislation Bill, Tax increases or Māori Wards.
“Where was the same urgency for something it claims is an “emergency?”
“The fact is, Labour and Greens are hypocrites. This is nothing more than the Government trying to line up its political agenda for 2022.
“If it really believes there is an emergency, it would be taking it more seriously than this.”