Teal hues and Maureen Pugh: the National party's spectrum on climate change

The party's Blue Green wing meets this weekend, bookending a week where it had to make it clear that the broad church doesn't accomodate climate change denial

Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, February 24, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: government announces new six-month visa for migrant workers needed for the cyclone recovery; new bivalent Covid boosters can be done at same time as flu shot; the opportunity to enact lasting legislation after disaster; but first, recent events may focus a little more attention on a Blue Green forum this weekend

From Tuesday to this weekend: Maureen Pugh and the National party’s hue of teal (Image: Tina Tiller)

National party Blue Green meets this weekend

The National party’s annual Blue Greens Forum will take place in Blenheim this weekend. Christopher Luxon, whose state of the nation speech was delayed by the arrival of Cyclone Gabrielle, will speak. The Blue Greens are the party’s environment wing and the forum makes for an interesting bookend to a week which included West Coast MP Maureen Pugh providing, at best, a distracting form of bleak levity, as she walked back comments about climate change in about three hours after a conversation with Luxon. The National party is a broad church but it will not accommodate climate change deniers.

Forum to discuss RMA reforms

The Blue Greens were founded over 20 years ago by a group of environmentalists, including former Nelson MP Nick Smith. One of the topics for discussion this weekend is the Resource Management Act reforms. It’s a bit of a throwback to 2015, when the party was in government and Smith first mooted the need for RMA reform. Yesterday, the party criticised the reforms, citing a submission from the Wind Energy Association that said that the reforms will make it more difficult to build a wind farm. “That is the exact opposite outcome of what nearly everyone says New Zealand needs,” says Chris Bishop. RMA reform is just one big piece of government work this year that is inextricably linked with climate change adaptation and mitigation action.

Muller “bristles” when asked about climate change leadership

As the opposition, the National party are in the position of needing to oppose the government and somewhat guard their own policies until it's the right time to release them in an election year. But with climate change adaptation and mitigation going from “to-do list” to “top of the list”, with fair demand for solutions from those impacted by severe weather right now, it does create a vacuum. Stuff’s Bridie Witton says Todd Muller “bristled” when asked why his party hadn’t shown more political leadership on climate change. “There has been a huge amount of talking about what our policies are and when we are going to make the call to announce it. Not choosing to share is not an absence of thinking,” he said. Muller is the party’s spokesperson for agriculture and climate change.

A teal wave?

It might be tempting to draw parallels between the National party’s Blue Green wing and the “teal independents” in Australia who targeted voters in wealthy city-fringe suburbs who lean centre-right but want more action on climate change. As Toby Manhire noted in his look at the “teal wave” during last year’s Australian election, our MMP system isn’t a natural fit for a similar play. Newsroom’s Marc Daalder reexamined the possibility of a “teal wave” here after the Auckland floods, with political scientists concluding the floods weren’t “likely to shift voter preferences given the electorate is already disengaged from the nuts and bolts of climate policy.” It’s likely our party and electoral system dynamics will never produce a replica of what happened in Australia but events since Daalder’s analysis will, at the very least, train more eyes on what Luxon has to say this weekend.

Finding strength from kapa haka

When business owner and kaihaka Jarrod Tua was at high school, he decided to throw everything he had behind a potential future in the NRL – including leaving behind cultural pursuits like kapa haka. Now, having returned from a stint playing league across the ditch, Tua has rekindled his love for the performing art, and he’s finding more similarities between kapa haka and high performance sports than he thought there were. Read more about Tua’s journey to Te Matatini on The Spinoff now (sponsored)

New six-month recovery visa to assist with cyclone recovery 

As BusinessDesk’s Jem Traylen reports (paywalled), the government announced a new six-month recovery visa yesterday, saying it will do what it takes to get the migrant workers needed for the cyclone recovery amid global labour shortages. The National party put out a proposal for a three-year visa for workers to assist with the recovery the day before. Immigration minister Michael Wood also announced a fast-tracking of recovery visa processing with an aim of processing them within seven days. By way of imperfect comparison, 10,000 workers arrived on special rebuild visas in Christchurch after the quakes. The issuing of those visas peaked in 2015, four years after the February 2011 quake. 

Bivalent Covid vaccine and flu shot able to be done at same time

From March 1, the bivalent vaccine will be available to everyone who is eligible for a booster. Those groups are people who have received their first vaccine doses but have not yet received a booster, and people at high risk who have not yet received their second booster. From April 1, the bivalent booster will be available to everyone aged 30 and over, regardless of how many doses they’ve already had. Epidemiologist Michael Baker described it as "very good news" especially because the vaccine can be given at the same time as the flu shot. The news comes as Te Whatu Ora warns that the reformed health system is still grappling with systemic problems that would affect the level of service it can provide over the winter.

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Will we change in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle?

Amongst the tragedy of Aotearoa's recent climate disasters is an opportunity to enact lasting legislation to prevent it happening again. Climate policy academic David Hall is tasked with finding the economically and politically sensible ways that we can adapt to the climate crisis. He talks with Bernard Hickey on the latest episode of When the Facts Change about gnarly politicking and the changes we need to make to avoid environmental disaster.

Click and collect

• Heavy rain warnings for Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Coromandel and Auckland today and tomorrow 

• Air New Zealand has emerged from the pandemic with a $213m profit for the first half of the financial year, but do not expect cheaper airfares any time soon

• Auckland light rail 'absolutely' going ahead

• Nudity on TVNZ - really good example of our antiquated media law which is in a holding pattern after delays to the content regulation review I mentioned earlier this week

• Extraordinary feature from The Guardian telling the story of Mariupol, a year on from the invasion of Ukraine

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.

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Right now on The Spinoff

Lifestyle tweaks and good intentions are no longer enough. In a new Side Eye comic, Toby Morris looks at our massive climate change reality check. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports from Napier, where the prime minister was met with more unwelcome rain yesterday. Toby Manhire talks to Elements of Truth director Tony Sutorius about politicians, documentary and “telling the truth about being dishonest”. Sam Brooks wonders if $41 million in savings is worth decimating Auckland’s community and culture for. And Alex Casey has a new theory about Married at First Sight Australia.

Sporting snippets

• The runners leading the way to help other athletes train to their menstrual cycles

• Highly-elevated consumption of eggs led to failed drugs test for boxer

• Football Ferns still winless after loss to Argentina last night

It’s Friday so…

Temporarily renaming this spot the “Te Matatini power hour” this week. I admit to being a tad tired and emotional by the time 6pm on a Thursday rolls around, but this story on Wairoa-based Te Matatini group, Mātangirau and their mission to get to Auckland from their cyclone-stricken town, got me good. They took to the stage at Eden Park with mud smeared up their legs, representative of what’s happened back home, while their supporters, unable to be there, gathered to watch their performance at Wairoa’s Gaiety Theatre. Te Matatini’s Instagram has photos of their performance.