The National Party, the PM, and busting myths about their approach to climate change: Sir Ian Taylor

The Prime Minister’s address showed encouraging signs that he had been listening to alternative views. Photo / Alex Burton

Opinion

OPINION

A news story on the Bluegreen Forum at Waitangi recently began with the opening line: “The Environmental Defence Society has slammed the coalition, calling it the most anti-environmental government since the early 1980s”.

Now if I hadn’t actually been at the forum, this story would have once again added fuel to the claim, one I have to admit I shared, that the National Party placed business and farmer interests over the interests of the environment and would give those two interest lobbies the freedom they wanted to continue with business as usual.

Now I say National, rather than the Government because, as I discovered, the Bluegreens is a National Party initiative that was founded by Nick Smith and Simon Upton in the 1990s on the basis that, “Good environmental practice is not only important to protect our natural heritage but is crucial in securing the sort of future we want for our children.”

Their view was that this “why”, the reason we needed to come together on protecting our precious environment, needed to be apolitical. It needed to hear all voices, it needed politicians to share the view that when it came to the environment we had to be able to look our children (and grandchildren) in the eye and assure them we had their back.

I had expected that the coalition party leaders would be present. This was, after all, being held in their rohe.

Perhaps Shane Jones could have made it to share some of his interesting views on the dangers of taking climate change too seriously?

But they weren’t there.

A fact which goes some way to explaining the comment from Gary Taylor, the CEO of the Environmental Defence Society when he referenced the “coalition Government” rather than the predominantly National Party politicians who were in attendance, including the Prime Minister.

A point he noted in an article following the forum: “Congratulations on yet another well-attended Bluegreens Forum. This is an excellent initiative and I’m pleased to have attended most of them. The forum is an assembly of progressive and knowledgeable people including environmentally aware members of National’s caucus.”

I had not gone to the forum with particularly high expectations but it didn’t take long to realise that this was something special. Speakers from across the entire spectrum of the environmental debate took the podium.

From the Environmental Defence Society to Federated Farmers, to big business interests like Fonterra, to environmental scientists like Finn Ross, to the fossil-free cherry orchardist from Cromwell and his Rewiring Aotearoa initiative, to Wayne Mulligan who discussed the $30 billion bio-forestry opportunity for our farming and forestry industries.

The speaker at the dinner following the forum was Simon Millar who shared his ambitious and inspiring “Recloaking Papatūānuku” programme. A $12 billion project backed by some of Aotearoa’s wealthiest individuals that would go a long way to protecting the precious, and unique, biodiversity of Aotearoa.

I came away inspired by what I had seen and heard.

New Zealand businessman and founder of Animation Research Ltd Sir Ian Taylor.

The diversity of the conversations, the economic potential for this country by taking up the huge opportunities presented to us by climate change and sustainability and the important role science and technology has in taking advantage of those opportunities.

But there was also challenging science, presented by climate scientists like Finn Ross who argued we no longer had the luxury of time for simply setting targets that no one in the room would be accountable for some time in the future.

The Prime Minister’s address showed encouraging signs that he had been listening to alternative views - the focus placed on the importance of water was one of those. The role that science, technology and innovation had to play was another.

There were things I disagreed with from his address. The key one for me is that protecting biodiversity should not be something balanced by economic arguments. Protecting the environment should be an absolute non-negotiable.

What I came away from the forum with was a sense that there was an opportunity to change his mind with an economic solution that protects biodiversity AND helps achieve his goal of improving the overall economy.

As I reflect on the comment from Gary Taylor regarding the most anti-environmental government since the 1990s, I am reminded of the night when I joined the panel for the leaders’ debate in Christchurch leading up to the last election.

That night Marama Davidson hardly mentioned climate - the dialogue was all about the rich hiding their wealth in their back pockets. When she finally got around to mentioning climate change her observation was that those who thought technology would fix it were fooling themselves.

I thought, she couldn’t really mean that, so I approached her privately after the event only to be summarily dismissed with a comment along these lines - “I have heard this stuff before - I don’t need to hear it from you.”

This was the co-leader of the Green Party and, in contrast to my experience at the Bluegreen Forum, I left that night truly depressed.

Then there was the quite extraordinary “victory speech” we witnessed on election night from Davidson which totally ignored the reality of the world of MMP.

While the Greens may have won more seats than they had before, they had also made themselves virtually irrelevant for at least the next three years, probably much longer.

And that was the difference that Gary Taylor noted last weekend. “The forum is an assembly of progressive and knowledgeable people - including environmentally aware members of National’s caucus.”

Environmentally aware politicians, who are sitting at the table!

On the night of her victory celebration, Davidson’s co-leader, James Shaw, looked, to me, decidedly uncomfortable standing alongside.

Perhaps there was an inkling of the idea that the environment needed a climate change party, focused on solutions rather than casting blame. A party that could/would sit at the table regardless of who won any election in the future.

That’s a party I think many of us would vote for.

• Sir Ian Taylor is a leading New Zealand businessman and entrepreneur who writes regularly for the NZ Herald.