The National Party needs to come clean about the impact of its plan to raid the climate budget and cancel $2 billion of investment in action to cut emissions.
“National’s plan to rip billions of dollars out of climate action in a climate emergency is dangerous and grossly irresponsible,” says the co-leader of the Green Party, James Shaw.
“National’s so-called ‘climate dividend’ is a sleight of hand designed to slow climate action. It’s climate denial dressed up as a tax cut. That’s it.
“I find it insulting, frankly, to the thousands of people who dedicate their lives to fighting for faster climate action. For the National Party to co-opt the language of climate action to justify delay is appalling.
“National’s plan is a climate change turbo-changed perfect storm of tax cuts for property speculators, rising rents and house prices, and climate inaction.
“On the very same day National said it planned to rip billions of dollars out of climate action, its coalition partner, the ACT Party, said “there’s no point” reducing emissions.
“National and ACT are as unscientific as they are dangerous - and they have proven themselves to be utterly out of touch with the needs of the people they claim to represent.
“I cannot think of a greater danger to our country than a National and ACT government. They are disingenuous, harmful and acting in bad faith.
“If National is going to play fast and loose with our future, they need to come clean about exactly what they are planning to cut from the climate budget.
“In the two years since I helped set it up, the Climate Emergency Response Fund has allocated over $4billion into action to reduce emissions, all of which has been raised directly from our biggest polluters.
“We already know National wants to double the price of catching the bus or train for people on the lowest incomes. What else is on the chopping block?
• New walking and cycling routes
• Investment in clean, affordable renewable energy
• Community energy projects
• Improving the pay of bus drivers
• Action to ensure the transition to a low carbon future is fair and equitable
• Cutting emissions from carbon-intensive process heat
• Māori climate action
• Low- and zero-emissions buses
• Reducing emissions from waste
• Decarbonising freight transport
“I set up the Climate Emergency Response Fund so money raised from our biggest polluters could be recycled into climate action. I will fight every step of the way to make sure National does not get its hands on it,” says James Shaw.
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