Greenpeace and ECO (1) surveyed all parties on a range of
pressing environmental issues facing the country.
"We asked the political parties to commit to 25 policies that
would tackle climate change, clean up New Zealand's rivers, save
our oceans, protect natural heritage and exercise environmental
leadership. Both major parties refused to make clear commitments,"
said ECO spokeswoman Cath Wallace.
"A Labour-led government may do more for the environment than a
National-led one, but, judging by their commitments, the main
parties will need the influence of the Maori Party and the Greens
if they are to make real progress.
"We were surprised by how poorly both the two major parties
scored. Neither seems to have what it takes to keep New Zealand
clean and green."
Each of the eight main Parliamentary political parties were
asked to confirm their commitment to the 25 environmental policies
with a yes or no, and given space to clarify their answers. Of the
seven political parties that responded, only National and Labour
refused to answer "yes" or "no".
"National scored abysmally. They refused to sign up to any of
the policies, but they picked up 27% for making some small steps in
the right direction.," said Wallace. "Worryingly, along with United
Future, National had the worst response of any party on responding
to climate change (4/20) and had the weakest approach of any party
to cleaning up New Zealand's freshwater (2/20). ACT refused to even
respond.
"Labour also refused to commit fully to any of the policies, but
their comments on the survey show they're willing to do more than
National for the environment. They scored 45% overall. Their
strongest commitments were in saving our oceans (12/20) and saving
New Zealand's natural heritage (12/20). Labour made few commitments
to clean up New Zealand's freshwater (5/20) or to show
environmental leadership (5/20)
"United Future gained 53%, scoring well on cleaning up New
Zealand's freshwater, but did very badly on tackling climate change
(4/20) and protecting New Zealand's natural heritage (3/20).
"Jim Anderton's Progressives scored 60%. Their strongest
commitments were on saving the oceans (14/20), protecting New
Zealand's natural heritage (17/20) and environmental leadership
(14/20).
"New Zealand First and the Maori Party scored far better than
expected given their voting record in Parliament, where both
parties have opposed environmental legislation. New Zealand First
gained 76% and the Maori Party gained 87%. Both parties scored
well on environmental leadership and the Maori Party scored the
best of any party on cleaning up New Zealand's water ways."
"The Greens scored the best of any political party and were the
only party to score 20/20 for tackling climate change."
Other contacts: Cath Wallace on 04-463-5713(w) or 04-970-8696 (H).
Kathy Cumming – Greenpeace communications and media - 021 495 216
Notes: Information on the survey can be downloaded at: http://www.environmentvote.org.nz/party-ratings.asp
The voting record of political parties over the last 3 years can read here at:
http://www.environmentvote.org.nz/events.asp
For information on the issues and policies that we used in our survey read:
http://www.environmentvote.org.nz/key-issues.asp
Vote for the Environment is supported by Greenpeace and ECO. It is registered as a third party under the Electoral Finance Act 2007.
The response from each party that did respond can also be found on the www.environmentvote.org.nz website
(1) http://www.eco.org.nz/groups.asp
ECO (Environment and Conservation Organisations of Aotearoa) is an umbrella group of over 60 environment and conservation organisations in New Zealand.
www.greenpeace.org.nz
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Greenpeace has over 50,000 supporters in New Zealand and globally around 3 million people are active supporters.
Exp. contact date: 2009-05-18 00:00:00