Downpour underlines policy points

As Jacinda Ardern began her climate change policy announcement, the heavens opened.

That coincidence seemed to be appreciated by the thousands of people, mostly University of Otago students, who turned out to catch a glimpse of the Labour leader on the campaign trail in Dunedin yesterday.

She addressed a huge crowd at the university yesterday afternoon, where she announced Labour would phase out fossil fuel boilers and decarbonise public transport as part of its climate change policy.

"I have said that climate change is my generation’s nuclear-free moment and the work we have done — and plan to continue — demonstrates Labour’s commitment to that."

The Government had taken steps to address climate change but there was more to do, she said.

The commitments included preventing installation of new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers, decarbonising the public transport bus fleet by 2035, and supporting agricultural climate change research programmes.

She said New Zealand’s agriculture sector and farmers had already done a lot to address climate change, and Labour would support them in that work by increasing funding across agricultural climate change research programmes by $6million a year.

The announcement appeared to go over well with the crowd, hundreds of whom swamped Ms Ardern immediately after her announcement.

The announcement also came just days after the Ohau Village fire, which has ripped through thousands of hectares of land.

It is among several large vegetation fires already this year, events firefighters say are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

Sitting down with the Otago Daily Times, Ms Ardern said that was exactly why climate action was so important.

"For us it’s about mitigation, what we can do ourselves, reducing our emissions profile.

"It’s also about what we do about adaptation, for those areas that are seeing the effects of change."

She was aware of concerns about the management of Department of Conservation land and how it could contribute to the spread of fires.

"What I wouldn’t mind is getting a clearer picture around the ignition of the fire, and then what may have acted as an accelerant and what we need to do about that."

The $100,000 committed from the Government for the response effort was an initial contribution, and it would be keeping in touch with parties to see what other support was needed.

"It is devastating. I mean, the scale of property loss, I can only imagine."

Ms Ardern was joined by several candidates yesterday, including Taieri hopeful Ingrid Leary.

The newly created electorate is hotly contested between National and Labour, but Ms Ardern said she was not worried about the seat flipping.

"But nor am I complacent about Taieri, nor am I taking anything for granted around Taieri.

"For us, every seat we take very seriously, we campaign very hard, and we have great candidates."

Earlier in the day, Ms Ardern visited precision engineering business United Machinists, where chief executive Sarah Ramsay spoke to her about the importance of apprenticeships.

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern was mobbed by students keen for selfies when she visited the University of Otago yesterday. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH

Then it was into the Octagon, where Ms Ardern could barely make it a few steps without being stopped for a selfie with locals.

One of the first to get her photo taken was Isla Clausen (8), who was grinning from ear to ear afterwards.

Many people also tooted and shouted support as they drove past, or managed to clamber through the large press pack to say hello.

Ms Ardern did not walk away from the city empty-handed.

A visit to sweet shop Granny Annie’s resulted in a packet of her favourite peaches and cream lollies, while further down the road was the obligatory stop for a cheese roll at Hungry Hobos.

daisy.hudson@odt.co.nz