28 September 2015
John Key must back signing of SDGs with action or risk hypocrisy
It would be hypocritical of John Key to sign up to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim
to end extreme poverty around the world and stop climate change, if he does not actually implement those policies at
home, said the Green Party today.
On Friday, New Zealand, as part of the United Nations, adopted 17 goals which set targets for future international
development over the next 15 years. The SDGs replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which are due to expire at
the end of this year.
“John Key cannot go to New York and sign up to end extreme global poverty while at the same time deny children in New
Zealand necessities like school lunches and warm homes,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.
“It is the ultimate hypocrisy that our Minister for Climate Change is in New York endorsing a goal to take urgent action
to combat climate change but is at the same time taking an embarrassingly weak emissions reduction target to the Paris
Climate Conference.
“If the National Government doesn’t implement policies that will achieve the SDGs in our own backyard, it shows that
signing them was nothing but grandstanding.
“New Zealand needs to take action on all of these goals because they work best in unison; it isn’t enough to just pick
out one or to rest on our laurels about past achievements.
“The international community only succeeded in making one MDG a reality, which was halving the number of people living
in extreme poverty. The failure of the MDGs is, in part, due to the fact that countries like New Zealand did not live up
to funding commitments.
“New Zealand needs to do its fair share over the next 15 years to ensure that we are lifting the standard of life for
everyone,” said Mr Shaw.