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May 31, 2022
Dairy industry creams climate change budget
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On May 31, 2022
Download AudioThere’s a warning Labour will be punished at the next election if it continues to put the interests of 12,000 dairy farmers ahead of the other five million New Zealanders.
Iwi Leaders Forum climate change spokesperson Mike Smith says the latest modelling indicates as many as a quarter of a million people may need to move over the next 50 years because of sea level rise.
In one small area around Whakatāne, that means 12 marae alone.
He says voters expect Government to take action against the top polluters.
“We’re not seeing that at the moment. In the latest Budget, we saw the dairy industry which is New Zealand’s top polluter slip through the net yet again. More than that, they were given close to three-quarters of a billion dollars to conduct research into why they shouldn’t be brought to heel in terms of their emissions,” he says.
Mr Smith says the $30 million for Māori communities to do risk assessments is nothing compared to the farmer’s $700 million.
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