Prominent Māori climate advocate Mike Smith has accused the Government of launching an unprecedented attack on the rule of law by proposing changes to climate legislation that could shut down major climate liability cases already before the courts.
Smith says proposed changes to the Climate Change Response Act 2002 amount to political interference designed to protect major corporate emitters from accountability as landmark climate litigation edges closer to trial.
At the centre of the controversy is Smith v Fonterra – a groundbreaking climate case brought by Smith against some of New Zealand’s largest companies over their contribution to climate change.
The case has already survived years of legal battles, including a major Supreme Court decision that reinstated Smith’s claims and cleared the way for a full hearing.
Now, Smith says the Government is attempting to retrospectively change the law before the courts can rule.
“The Government is quite literally moving the legal goalposts while the ball is already in the air,” Smith says.
He argues the proposal is not ordinary law reform, but a direct intervention into an active judicial process.
“That is not democracy functioning properly. It is political interference in an active judicial process.”
Smith warns the implications extend far beyond climate policy, raising serious constitutional concerns about the separation between Parliament and the courts.
“If Parliament can step in and kill proceedings whenever powerful corporate interests feel threatened, then no citizen can have confidence that the law applies equally,” he says.
The Government has argued proposed reforms are intended to provide certainty for businesses operating under existing emissions frameworks.
But Smith says the only certainty being created is “certainty of impunity” for major polluters.
“This is retrospective lawmaking of the worst kind,” he says.
The climate advocate also says Māori communities have long raised concerns about legal pathways being narrowed whenever claims challenge Crown or corporate interests.
“Whether in environmental battles, Treaty disputes, or indigenous rights litigation, the pattern is increasingly familiar — when the courts become a genuine forum for accountability, the rules are changed.”
Smith warns the proposed changes could represent one of the most serious erosions of legal integrity seen in modern New Zealand history.
“If justice is denied in the courts of law, people will inevitably seek justice in the court of public opinion and in the streets,” he says.
He is calling on the Government to abandon any retrospective provisions and allow the judiciary to determine the case independently.
The debate is expected to intensify as climate accountability, indigenous rights, and constitutional protections become increasingly central political issues ahead of the next election.
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