Climate? Action Network International
Well, it has certainly been knives out for the National, Act and New Zealand First coalition from the media, both in New Zealand and overseas. In itself this is a remarkable achievement for a democratically elected government only a few weeks old.
I remember the glowing media reviews of the incoming Jacinda Adern. So glowing and one sided for a leader, that had just performed an internal coup in her party only a month before, that it made me uncomfortable enough to post about it. The legacy of her "be kind" government and the Covid 19 emergency has been a massive increase in debt, homelessness and other social problems and a country increasingly divided.
And now Climate Action Network International (CANI) has showed it's political colors in an issue that should be non-partisan. In a show of support against democratic processes they have given the incoming New Zealand government a "Fossil of the day" award for,
...announcing plans to reopen Aotearoa waters to oil and gas exploration.
Climate Action Network: Fossil of The Day 3 December New Zealand, Japan, USA,
Yes, that is is folks. Apparently just by announcing the your intent to open your waters to oil and gas you can earn the scorn of the CANI who are apparently quite fine to overlook all the other actual things going on now in order to make a political hit against a tiny country whose contribution to climate change is, well, insignificant.
And a political hit it is. The article states what the allowed group think is in its first lines,
New Zealand had been saying all the right things, listening to Indigenous voices, and championing a global phase-out of fossil fuels.
Climate Action Network: Fossil of The Day 3 December New Zealand, Japan, USA,
And nothing has actually changed there. CANI fails to recognize that two of the three leaders of the coalition are indigenous voices as are many of the MP's in the minor parties. Act for example has 26% Maori MP's and New Zealand First has 50%. And although these numbers are stunted by the biggest Party which has only 10% Maori MP's the coalition partners have a huge amount of political clout in the process.
Just because Maori don't hold CANI's views should not make them invisible. To be Maori is not a political choice but is a genetic reality and CANI should not seek to make it one. In doing so they are making the same mistake that much of the media does in New Zealand in confusing political movements with ethnicity.
In my view this is further propagated by CANI making the other activists in New Zealand invisible. Apparently the struggle is solely between the New Zealand Government and Maori with no mention of the hundreds of thousands of people from differing ethnicities who also supported and fought for a ban on offshore oil exploration.
Apparently CANI hasn't looked at the reasons behind the Governments policy.
Repeal the ban on oil and gas exploration to reduce New Zealand’s reliance on imported coal and ensure gas can be used as a transition fuel as we move towards Net Zero 2050.
National: Rebuilding the Economy
There is no change in the 2050 target. There is only a change in energy security. The old governments strategy was to stop energy production in New Zealand which only led to energy reliance on other countries, not a cut in energy usage. For example, because of the reduction oil and gas exploitation in New Zealand and the closure of the Marsden Point refinery the country was looking at running a pipeline to Australia to buy the gas off them.
That's stupid.
So while CANI's political hit job may make good headlines, the purpose behind appears to not be climate action based but instead a dog whistle to their followers.
Image source: Fossil of the Day ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
