Green Party co-leader calls time on ‘kicking can down the road’

The time for “kicking the can down the road” on climate adaptation in areas such as South Dunedin is over, Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick says. Ms Swarbrick was visiting South Dunedin on Monday ahead of a couple of functions, including preparing for a leaders’ debate at the University of Otago Union Hall zon Tuesday. She said the multi-agency South Dunedin Futures project was the product of a lot of promise and vision on climate adaptation, but had been the victim of political in-fighting. Infrastructure upgrades in the short term had already been a common theme across the options, but other elements were controversial, such as projected costs and signalling hundreds of homes could be acquired to enable adaptation to climate challenges. “I just really feel for the staff who have kind of been thrown under a bus here and used as political pawns, when I think they have been doing a huge amount of heavy lifting for years to build the social licence and the public understanding of what is necessary,” Ms Swarbrick said. It was stated in June, working up another option would delay public consultation by at least four months. “Unfortunately, this is a perfect case in point of how politicians have ended up being incentivised by short-term headlines at the expense of bringing the community together and grappling with what obviously is really hard stuff.” Ms Swarbrick said the time for “kicking the can down the road” was over and respective parties had to work together as much as possible on these important issues. “That’s part of the reason that we need responsible people with calm heads who are capable of bringing people together as opposed to fanning the flames. “We’re now in this really difficult position where we’re still trying to engage constructively with the government, but the [government’s environmental] legislation in a lot of ways is looking as though it’s worse than the status quo.” Ms Swarbrick said nonetheless, there was an opportunity to be positive and progressive in the environmental and climate change sphere. “So this looks like density done well, it looks like restoring wetlands, it looks like proper investment in public transport networks, but it also looks like creating jobs and protecting manufacturing and production here.” With the campaign in full swing and the November 7 election date looming, Ms Swarbrick hoped for a more positive approach. “People can actually fulfil their agency, their ability to live their best life, to participate in society. “And from that, we can build a country. “Right now, this divide and conquer stuff is clearly just exhausting people.”

Green Party co-leader calls time on ‘kicking can down the road’

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