As that infamous cheese ad on the telly once said, good things take time.
This past month has seen the fruition of outcomes on some of our long-standing advocacy and work, including in reinstating legislated urban tree protection, greater conservation of our Hauraki Gulf and commitment of Government funding for the next step towards new Richmond Road Primary School teaching spaces.
Tree canopy cover in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland has been decimated this past decade, accelerated by the former National Government’s removal of RMA protections in 2015. Since being elected to Parliament in 2017, I’ve worked to try and get legal fixes up alongside my colleague and friend Hon.
Eugenie Sage in the House and Environment Select Committee. Where we’ve found central government roadblocks, I’ve also worked with and lobbied the most recent two Auckland mayoral administrations, ultimately recruiting the support of former Mayor Goff in favour of legislative reform. This past month, the Greens won this fix in an amendment to the Natural and Built Environments legislation.
Urban trees are not only crucial to quality of life and as the highest-tech, oldest-school carbon sinks to reduce climate-changing emissions, but their shade decreases the high temperatures we experience on the streets, their branches foster homes for our native birds and foliage slows down the impacts of severe weather, ultimately reducing flooding potential which feels all the more immediate and relevant in the face of Auckland Anniversary Weekend 2023.
While trees clean our air and sequester carbon, so, too, do our oceans, to the extent that scientists estimate that every second breath comes from the big blue. We’ve long known those ocean ecosystems are under serious threat from destructive, large-scale and indiscriminate commercial fishing practices like bottom trawling. Nowhere is this more apparent in Aotearoa than in the Hauraki Gulf, which our communities – including recreational fishers – and the Greens have long campaigned for at least 30% protection of. In early August, the Government finally announced its response to the 2016 Sea Change plan – increasing the area with some form of protection to 18%.
Unfortunately, they’ve also retained bottom trawling ‘corridors’ and obviously haven’t gone as far as the science and our communities demand on protected areas. While we can celebrate this win, the fight doesn’t stop until we achieve law change that will support a flourishing ecosystem for generations to come. This includes serious action and resourcing needed urgently on ecosystem-smothering caulerpa brachypus invasive seaweed, which I’ve been working on with Aotea Great Barrier Local Board and mana whenua since it was identified in 2021.
Back on land, locals may remember that a fire in January of 2014 burnt down one of Richmond Road’s blocks. Since then, a number of students have been learning in subpar, supposedly ‘temporary’ prefabricated blocks. Through sheer determination of Principal Whaea Jacqui Tutavake and her board, colleagues, our community of whānau and the constant pressure applied from our Auckland Central office, we have finally seen a commitment in writing from the Minister of Education confirming funding for the concept design stage. It’s always a good day when we cut through bureaucratic obfuscation and deeply embedded ‘computer says no’ culture to achieve tangible solutions, not the least when that gets us closer to better learning environments for our kids.
I also recently had the privilege of celebrating the opening of Kainga Ora’s Te Mātāwai on Greys Avenue, near our central city fire station. Here are 276 new homes for those who need them, with the state’s first pilot of 24/7 supported living to ensure people get the support they need to connect to job and education opportunities, mental health and addiction support, and that the community is intentionally built and supported. We’re working with a few local NGOs on occupying some of the ground floor commercial spaces, which I hope to have more to say on soon.
As always, there’s a lot more mahi we could discuss than would fit within these column inches, so if you ever want to share your thoughts, need support from me or my office or have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to reach out. Regardless, I’ll see you at Ponsonby Market Day! (Chlöe SWARBRICK)
Chlöe Swarbrick, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz
www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick
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Published: August 2023