In our big blue backyard in Auckland Central, I go out fishing with my mate Cam whenever I can.
Unfortunately, given my work, that isn't very often, but it’s one of the biggest joys in my life to be actively part of the nature we’re trying to protect.
In this country, we pride ourselves on how you can catch dinner for your family and your friends from the oceans or from the land. It is one of the most incredible things about having the Hauraki Gulf on the doorstep of our nation’s largest city.
But the Government’s Fisheries Amendment Bill is working to undermine that very birthright of New Zealanders. When Luxon’s Government dropped this bill seemingly out of nowhere in March, the backlash was swift and immediate. So much so that we ended up with the minister committing to backing down on some of the most egregious examples of private profiteering and plunder – namely, the specific allowance for commercial fishers to have minimum fish-size requirements removed while they remained in place for recreational fishers.
Despite this public backdown, because the Government wanted to ram the legislation through, it went through First Reading with these clauses still in place and the mere promise that they’d remove them at Select Committee. Government members also promised to listen to submitters at Select Committee.
Why should we believe that? The bill contains provisions that were opposed by 90% of submitters in its initial consultation process.
There’s a reason recreational fishers, iwi, hapu, conservationists and communities across the country have united in calls to kill the bill. It’s just the latest attempt from this Government to shred our environment to make a quick buck for industry.
This isn’t inevitable – we can fight it and we can win. Just look at April’s success in pushing back against the Government’s plans to mine a UNESCO World Heritage site at the bottom of the South Island, which Minister Jones credited the Greens for nixing.
But we don’t just want to defend the status quo. We can and should go further. When it comes to restoring our oceans, we’re working to end bottom trawling and protect at least 30% of them. Wellington’s Council and projects like Zealandia have shown that with effort, planning and resourcing we can bring back not only native trees, but birdsong. Our neighbourhoods can and should be thriving with life, joy and nature.
So why does it seem easier to imagine paradise paved over by a parking lot than the restoration of nature in urban environments? Because there’s been a whole lot of effort throughout most of our entire lifetimes priming us to believe that extraction, exploitation and exhaustion is the only way things can be.
That’s why this election year, it’s critical to remember what’s in our nature. New Zealanders have proudly stood up for the things that matter and for who we are and we’ve made history, time and again, making the previously impossible, possible.
I’m looking forward to continue talking to as many of you as I can, to get on the same page about moving forward as a city and country. Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out via chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz if I can be of service, or you have an idea, or catch me at one of our many events across the electorate in the next few months.
chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz (Chlöe Swarbrick)
Chlöe Swarbrick: Co-leader of the Green Party and MP for Auckland Central
