New Zealand’s next climate commissioner?

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Parliament returned yesterday after a long summer break, with the first item of a big day in politics the announcement by James Shaw that he will resign as Green Party co-leader next month after eight years in the role.

Shaw will be missed when he moves on from Parliament, particularly for his knowledge and steady hand as Climate Change Minister over the previous two governments, successfully shepherding the Zero Carbon Act through the House with near-unanimous support. Social justice activists in the party who aligned against his co-leadership in 2022 will be cheering, though.

NZ Herald business columnist Fran O’Sullivan suggested two weeks ago, in contemplating Shaw’s expected retirement, that the Prime Minister should consider him for the role of Climate Change Commissioner when Dr Rod Carr steps down later this year.

She noted that he had forged pragmatic links with National, and built widespread support among senior business leaders through the introduction of climate-related disclosures legislation.

All parties had caucus meetings yesterday morning and heading into National’s, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand would halt funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees until the Foreign Minister was satisfied over accusations about staff involvement in Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.

During question time, Luxon described Shaw as a good friend who he really respected . . . adding that he hadn’t given any thought as to whether he would be a good Climate Change Commissioner.

Defence Minister Judith Collins defended the deployment of six NZ Defence Force personnel to the Red Sea, in the face of criticism by Greens co-leader Marama Davidson that it would escalate the level of violence in the Middle East. Labour’s defence spokesman Peeni Henare said he didn’t think the Government had made a clear case for the deployment, and urged it not to turn its back on the need for humanitarian support in Gaza.

East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick gave her maiden speech later in the day, thanking all those who supported her move into politics, sharing some of her background, and revealing that she really began contemplating a political career as she became increasingly frustrated by pandemic-era restrictions. She was proud to be part of a Government that was focused on fixing the core issues, and supported our business and rural sectors.

Kirkpatrick thanked East Coast voters for giving her this privilege and pledged to “work hard, listen even harder, and do my very best for the people of the East Coast electorate —  because it is them who will hold me accountable in the end”.