The Green Party is calling foul on the Luxon Government’s dismantling of environmental protection, announcing a policy programme to deliver clean drinking water, swimmable rivers and beaches, and healthy oceans for all New Zealanders.
“This is about protecting our taiao. The Green Party has announced its policy programme ‘Drink Swim Fish’ which will deliver far reaching environmental change and protect human and ecological health from harm caused by corporate greed,” says Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson.
“Clean, healthy water is a human right, and has been a way of life in Aotearoa for many generations.
“But that way of life has been taken from today’s generations by weak rules that allow industrial scale exploitation. It is madness that in Aotearoa, up to 100,000 people become sick from unsafe drinking water every year, popular beaches and swimming spots are closed every summer, and our once common fish like our iconic tarakihi populations have been fished to the brink of collapse.
“The Green Party’s policy package will reverse the widespread degradation of our environment, and protect human and ecological health from corporate greed,” says Marama.
Among eight policy interventions, the Green Party will:
- Protect drinking water by setting strong environmental limits and lowering nitrate limits.
- Protect rivers and coasts by strengthening rules for wastewater discharges.
- Protect our moana by phasing out destructive bottom trawling.
Green Party Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick says “There is no economy without the environment. When the Government fails to protect our environment we all pay the price in clean-up costs, in our people and animals getting sick, let alone the impact on our economy.”
“Safe drinking water, a swim at the local beach, and catching some snapper on the weekend should not be too much to ask in this beautiful country.
“The recent outpouring of love for both public conservation land and our fish – against Luxon’s Government’s plans – have only reaffirmed that New Zealanders want environmental health prioritised over commercial profits. It’s in our nature.
“Only the Green Party will fix the rules so the health of our communities and environment always come first. New Zealanders can be sure this would mean all of us can drink, swim, and fish in the places we love,” says Chlöe.
For more info, visit Drink, Swim Fish - Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.
