“If there’s one thing the Greens have succeeded at over the past five years it is proving how ineffective they are, even with real responsibility they’ve been unable to achieve anything,” says ACT Deputy Leader Brooke van Velden.

“Green Party co-leader James Shaw is expected to deliver a speech today, which he hopes makes their supporters forget how useless the party has been in Government.

“New Zealand’s carbon emissions have flatlined under James Shaw as Climate Change Minister. Shaw should be focussed on actually achieving results rather than political bickering.

“Most people don’t even know co-leader Marama Davidson is Minister for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and Housing Minister responsible for homelessness. When ACT MP Karen Chhour asked her in Parliament about tragic reports of sexual assaults within emergency housing she said she hadn’t even asked for a briefing and that it should be the Minister for Social Development’s remit.

“One of Shaw’s flagship policies is the ban on oil and gas, a policy created without analysis, without a Cabinet decision, and without public consultation. It was subsequently revealed that there was no cost-benefit analysis and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment found it would actually increase global emissions by forcing activity offshore.

“Global coal exporters have been the biggest benefactor of the Green Party’s climate policies. According to figures from MBIE, coal use for electricity generation was up 29.5 per cent in 2022. There is no environmental benefit to this policy if Indonesian coal is imported instead.

“If New Zealand wants to avoid burning millions of tonnes of foreign coal in future, the Government needs to re-evaluate its oil and gas ban.

“ACT proposes a realistic, no-nonsense climate change policy that matches our efforts with our trading partners’ with minimal bureaucracy. We should set a cap on total emissions in line with the actual reductions of our trading partners, then allow New Zealanders to import high quality foreign carbon credits so we pay the world price, not an artificial price.

“The Greens are more concerned about the appearance of environmental progress than actual progress and voters are waking up to that. ACT stands for real change in our climate policy, ensuring it is practical, effective, and not going to make life harder for New Zealanders."

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