imnofox launches his campaign in Aoraki, at the Hamner Conservation Park

“Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa. Today is an exciting day. Today is the day we begin the campaign for a brighter, greener, progressive future for Aoraki. Because, we’ve all seen how Aoraki has been let down by the incumbent MP. Inequality and poverty is getting worse in the region. Our beautiful, often pristine, natural environment, has been left to degrade due to government inaction. They’ve cut social services we rely on, and failed to meet even the most basic of problems. It’s time for new representation in Aoraki- representation that will get things done, putting people and the environment first.”

“Today we’re at the Hamner conservation park, right at the heart of the expansive Aoraki electorate. As we stand here, on this beautiful day, we should be deafened by birdsong. Tui, hihi, and many more. And yet it is quiet. But that’s the consequence of successive National governments defunding and underfunding the Department of Conservation. Last term, the National Party halved DOC’s budget by 50%, along with halving their predator control budget by 50%. And Winston_Wilhelmus has done absolutely nothing to change this! After a term of Reform-National governance, despite the once thriving forests in his own electorate, we have seen absolutely nothing when it comes to environmental action from this government. Aoraki demands the protection of our native birds, our forests and fauna- and New Zealand First has failed so miserably.”

“Up in the north of the Aoraki electorate, we have seen zero action from the incumbent MP on standing with locals in halting the construction of the Waimea Dam. This dam will have a clear impact on the natural flows of that river, and will cause great disruption to ecosystems in the inundated areas. That’s not acceptable. It is no wonder that the Muldoonists in New Zealand First have no opposition to these kinds of ‘think big’ projects. Projects like these, throughout the upper South Island, have direct impacts on the already highly degraded waterways. It’s time Aoraki had real leadership on these pressing environmental issues.”

“Because up and down the country our waterways are being degraded. When I spoke in the Waikato by-election, I talked about how tens of thousands of Kiwis are getting sick every year from swimming in the Waikato River. But that’s not unique to the Waikato. Up and down Aoraki, our waterways are in a state unrecognisable to our grandparents or even just our parents. And that’s no wonder, because the National Party slashed $621 million of investment in sustainable farming, including hundreds of millions directly towards the restoration of our waterways. Despite this government promising to clean up our rivers by the year 2060, the National-Reform government failed to do the slightest thing. The MP for Aoraki ignored all those concerns, despite his powerful seat at the government desk. He has achieved nothing for Aoraki’s waterways, and yet he has the gall to promise clean NZ waterways by 2050, after his government let our waterways get more and more polluted for yet another term of total inaction.”

“It’s not only farm runoff that is responsible for the degradation of our groundwater and waterways, but private businesses exploiting our water sources for their own commercial use. But unlike other natural resources, like minerals or gas, there is no requirement for irrigators and water bottlers to pay any user charges or royalties beyond minimal administration fees to regional councils. There are 73 companies in New Zealand with resource consents to take and bottle water, taking 23 billion litres of water a year, including in Aoraki. They pay an average of just $200 a year for that privilege, while making gigantic profits over what is effectively a limited resource. Despite 87% of the country supporting placing royalties on these bottlers and exporters, Reform stands opposed to any kind of such royalty. Down in Ashburton, at the bottom of this electorate, a piece of land called ‘Lot 9’ went up for sale with a resource consent to bottle and export 40 billion litres of pure water. At the same time, the people living in the Ashburton region already contend with high nitrate levels, making the water unsafe for consumption by pregnant women or bottle fed babies. In Mayfield, just west of Ashburton, was so short of bore water, that they had to rely on treated stock drinking water for the summer season. Now, this sale was stopped after an impressive campaign by locals and the Green Party- but it shouldn’t be up to public pressure to stop this destructive exploitation of our water sources. Everyone in Aoraki has a right to secure and safe drinking water, and it’s shameful that the incumbent New Zealand First MP is so reluctant to do anything about it. In government, the Greens will not hesitate to protect Aoraki’s water supplies by placing an immediate interim ban on new consents, and place a 10c/litre level on all domestic sales of Aotearoa drinking water and on all water exports. But it’s not just water bottling, but we badly need resource charges for all commercial water uses. We know that irrigation has a much greater impact than water bottling- and we’ve already promised to strip irrigation subsidies and wind up Crown Irrigation Investments Ltd- but it is necessary to go one step further and start looking into water resource charges for all commercial water uses, to protect our water from degradation and depletion, without forgetting the rights of Māori over Aotearoa’s water.”

“Aoraki deserves real change, not these tired old populist policies from a party leader that could only have time travelled straight out of the 1840s, as far as we know. Aoraki is a modern, thriving electorate that is here for the future. Instead of being dragged back with primitivist populism, we need to take Aoraki forward with a clean, green future. The Greens have the policies that will naturally bring about the best wellbeing and prosperity to Aoraki, and I am committed to working with the people of Aoraki to deliver that bright future for one of the largest electorates in the country. Aoraki deserves that change, and that changes comes in the form of Green representation in Aoraki this election. Make your vote count, and vote two ticks Green. Thank you!

the large crowd cheered and applauded, before the group went for an exciting bush walk through the Hamner Conservation Park, appreciating the importance and the beauty of our natural environment