The National Party has proposed a bill to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment. It will then merge with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and the Ministry of Transport.
The bill was introduced on the 16th of February and went through its first reading on the 19th.
The core of the debate throughout the first reading was if the coalition seemed to give a shit about the environment. The opposition seemed to think the answer was “no”, while National MP Grant McCallum defended the bill, as “by merging all of these ministries together, what we’re going to be doing is putting environmental policies at the heart of decision making.” In response, Labour MP Dr. Deborah Russell quoted various environmental NGOs, which all seemed to share the sentiment that the coalition gives zero fucks.
As always, sitting MPs missed no opportunity to make the house sitting slightly more entertaining.
Ryan Hamilton of the National Party (who represents his Hamilton East electorate so hard that he made it his last name (allegedly)) partook in some awesome amazing acerbic adversarial alliteration in referring to the opposition as “masters of misdirection” before insisting the bill acknowledged “the inseparability of economic outcomes and environmental protections”. Dr Deborah Russell called David Seymour “the popinjay of Epsom” who “smirks away as they sell out our heritage.” Earlier in the week, David Seymour told the house that he was “a very agreeable person and a great person to agree with”, so I suppose everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
The bill passed its first reading with 68 votes in favour and 54 votes opposed, but shit got real when Minister of Conservation and MP for Hamilton West Tama Potaka announced the bill would be reported back to the house for its second reading on the 24th of April, spending far less time in the select committee phase than other bills, with no explanation offered.
Dr. Deborah Russell proposed a motion for the bill to be reported back to the house on the 16th of July, calling the shortened report back period “deeply problematic”, as it “will limit the time that the select committee can spend listening to the citizens of New Zealand.” By the citizens of New Zealand, she means you, organisations, and anyone else who wants to submit for or against this bill.
In proving just how much the coalition cares about the environment, the house voted “no” to Russell’s proposal to lengthen the report back period. The second reading of the bill to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment will go ahead on the 24th of April.
