December 04, 2023
Pacific voices turn up heat on climate change
Green Party Pacific spokesperson Teanau Tuiono says the new Government is out of step with its Pacific neighbours on energy and climate policy.
He says Vanautu’s climate change minister, Ralph Regenvanu, told National’s Gerry Brownlee at last week’s Pacific Islands Forum meeting that they do not want New Zealand’s ban on oil and gas exploration to be reversed.
“We’re in the middle of a climate crisis. Our Pacific relatives are in the middle and on the front lines of that climate crisis. We saw what was happening here with the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and the floods on Auckland Anniversary weekend. We need to support all those things that need to happen to make sure we mitigate carbon emissions, The science tells us we have to stop extracting oil and gas and this Government is going backwards on that,” he says.