Barry Brill: The Ministry's mammoth greenwashing scam

Our MfE’s farm methane policy no longer aims to reduce future global temperatures. The new aim is to defend their own unreal scenarios, at any cost. That is classic greenwashing.

After 30 long years, the NZ Ministry for the Environment has stopped arguing that the science is on their side. They have had to accept that modern research has exploded their mantra that “agricultural methane causes 28 times as much warming as CO2”.

As I pointed out in “Mammoth Methane Mistake”, there is not the slightest ambiguity in the finding of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change –

Kate Hawkesby: James Shaw is a complete hypocrite

 

For a government obsessed with optics, it beggars' belief that more thought wasn’t given to James Shaw’s decision to travel all the way to Scotland for a climate change conference in 8 weeks' time. 

I mean, let’s get past the glaring carbon footprint of all that travel and look at the other hypocritical aspects of this. 

This is a party who objected so strongly to Parliament being resumed in person that they refused to attend; such was their horror that travel should take place during Delta. That same sentiment seems to have conveniently been overlooked in this case. 

Add to this, the fact that he will take up an MIQ spot which has magically appeared for him at the end of it all. 

Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup - Has James Shaw sunk the Greens?

How badly will James Shaw’s private school debacle affect the Greens? Will it push them out of Parliament? 

This is increasingly the question being asked as the scandal rolls on and on this week. After all, the two main polling companies have had the party very close to the 5% MMP threshold in their surveys for the last year. So, the Greens only have to lose a small amount of support and they will be tipped out of office.

Greens badly wounded

Most commentators seem to believe that the Green Party has been seriously undermined by the decision to grant nearly $12m to a private eco-school. This is because it suggests the party has lost its way and no longer represents its traditional and more radical vision.

NZCPR Weekly: Tipping Points

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we examine some of the ‘tipping points’ that have changed New Zealand’s political landscape and ask whether the lack of judgement of the Green Party’s co-leader James Shaw will create another, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Owen Jennings outlines why the Government’s decision to tax methane is unjustified and immoral, and our poll asks whether you believe that James Shaw should resign.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE. 

 

Heather du Plessis-Allan: James Shaw has bigger problem than Green School saga

I don't think James Shaw has yet managed to fix this problem he's created.

He's clearly scrambling to find a solution for the Green School controversy and so far that seems to be reclassifying the $12 million for the eco-school not as a grant but a loan.

But that's not going to solve much.

Because it doesn't really matter what he calls it – a grant or a loan or fairy dust – the fact is the money will still be allocated to the Green School. Which means it isn't available to other schools that need it more desperately.