Australian Election A Warning Shot For Luxon's Trump-style Agenda, Says Greenpeace
"Australians chose to protect climate and nature over a coalition pushing fossil fuels, destruction, and division. That should be a wake-up call for political leaders here in Aotearoa," says Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Gen Toop.
In Australia, Peter Dutton's Coalition promised more offshore gas drilling. In Aotearoa, Luxon's Government is repealing the oil and gas ban. In the U.S., Trump is gutting environmental protections to make way for fossil fuel expansion.
"Luxon has been increasingly aligning himself with Trump-style environmental vandalism. From backing seabed mining and deep sea oil and gas exploration, to allowing fishing in marine reserves and attacking Te Tiriti o Waitangi," says Toop.
"But, people are rejecting the Trumpian 'drill-baby-drill' mentality, and politicians on both sides of the aisle here in New Zealand should sit up and take notice."
Last week, Greenpeace lampooned Luxon with a viral spray tan video on social media, likening him to Trump over his support for seabed mining.
After Greenpeace launched a petition calling on Labour leader Chris Hipkins to take a stand, Hipkins reaffirmed Labour's opposition to seabed mining. However, Greenpeace is urging him to go further.
"It's good to see Labour opposing seabed mining - but it's not enough," says Toop. "If Hipkins wants to show voters that Labour stands for nature and people, he needs to commit to revoke any seabed mining consents granted through the Fast Track Act."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
5 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Injunction ‘last lifeline' for racing
File photo: Stephen Jaquiery A High Court interim injunction is the "last lifeline" left for the greyhound racing industry, a former trainer says. Greyhound Racing New Zealand is seeking the injunction to stop the government's plan to end greyhound racing in New Zealand. The hearing will be held in Wellington tomorrow. In December last year, Racing Minister Winston Peters announced the government's 20-month plan to wind down the industry to enable the re-homing of racing dogs and to provide a transition period for people involved in the industry. The first race of what could be New Zealand's last season took place last Wednesday. There are six trainers in Southland and Otago and about 40 greyhounds, but not all the dogs race. Southland Greyhound Racing secretary-manager Bronwyn Eade said an interim injunction could buy the industry some time. If the injunction was successful it would stop the process of closing down the industry until a court hearing could be held. "There's a little bit of hope." It would also allow racing to continue beyond July next year when it was scheduled to stop which would extend the time trainers and owners could earn an income, Mrs Eade said. When there was no more racing the owners would be left with the dogs. "The government has said there won't be any compensation for the greyhound owners and trainers." Throughout the country there were about 1500 dogs that would need to be re-homed, Mrs Eade said. Every year about 670 dogs were re-homed at a cost of more than $8 million to Greyhound New Zealand. "You take the racing away, how is that going to be funded?" While the prospect of the sport ending was sad, people were more angry than anything else, she said. Animal welfare was the reason given but the industry had made big improvements in the past eight years, Mrs Eade said. It was hard to know why the government had decided the dogs were not well looked after when the opposite was true, she said. What she found even more puzzling was why the government would continue to allow New Zealanders to bet on Australian greyhound races, which equated to about $48m gross revenue coming into the economy. "There's a double standard and its hypocritical." She said the Australian dogs were not better cared for because New Zealand dogs were the most regulated greyhounds she knew of anywhere in the world. To add insult to injury, the government planned to requisition $15m of Greyhound New Zealand's money. To take money from an incorporated society the government had to prove there was financial misconduct, insolvency or failure to submit returns, she said. As there was no evidence of this the government would need to "fabricate a new law" to allow the money to be taken, Mrs Eade said.
NZ Herald
8 hours ago
- NZ Herald
British and Irish Lions tour highlights Australia's rugby revenue advantage over NZ
The past six weeks or so have been one giant commercial flex by Australia, illustrating, through projection, the enormous difficulties New Zealand Rugby (NZR) faces commercialising the full potential of the All Blacks – the world's best-known rugby brand – in a country of just five million people. Beauden Barrett prepares for a shot at goal against the Lions in 2017. Photo / Photosport But the numbers tell a story that is much deeper than population discrepancy, and Australia monetised the Lions tour more effectively than New Zealand ever could, not just because it has almost six times as many people. It has diversified its economy in a way agriculture- and tourism-reliant New Zealand hasn't, and with a growing financial services and manufacturing base, Australia has significantly higher volumes of wealthy types to enable higher ticket pricing. Australia sold 50% more tickets in 2025 than New Zealand managed in 2017, but it made 300% more profit – illustrating that it clearly took a significantly higher yield. Some of this will be because Australia's greater corporate horsepower means it can ramp up hospitality prices, knowing the Mossman set – the high financiers, hedge fund managers, property magnates – have the means and desire to pay, whereas in New Zealand, packages are tailored so they remain affordable to the small and medium enterprises that dominate the business landscape. Australia is looking to attract the investment banking community, New Zealand is targeting the local car dealership. And the Australians had an enormous infrastructure advantage – playing games in stadiums (Perth, Adelaide, Sydney) – that have all either been built or majorly renovated in the past 10 years. The highest individual attendance was 90,000 at the MCG, the lowest 23,000 in Canberra – with the average coming in at nearly 51,000. It has been raining cash in Australia because it has supportive state governments that have seen the value in building stadiums and then spending again to attract major events. This isn't a populist move to appease sports fans to win votes, it's a basic acceptance that the hospitality industry needs all the help it can get and that hotel beds need people sleeping in them. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the All Blacks are held hostage by political indecision, a seemingly crippling fear within sitting Governments to invest in infrastructure and a general Presbyterian strain of pettiness within the populace that sees the building of modern stadiums and the subsequent pursuit of attracting big events as some kind of moral failing and pathway to irretrievably frivolous lifestyles. The Lions will come here in 2029 and NZR is unlikely to make a significantly larger profit than it did in 2017. The only real difference will be that in 2029, the tour will have access to a new and larger (9,000 more seats than the existing temporary facility) stadium in Christchurch – but that's not going to shift the dial, and unlike Australia, it is an unimaginable prospect that either the national Government or local authorities are going to start throwing cash around to try to attract fixtures. This difference in attitude between New Zealand and Australia around government investment in events was further illustrated this week when Christchurch was announced as the host city of Super Rugby Pacific's Super Round next year. Te Kaha stadium in Christchurch, pictured when it was under construction in August 2024. The Government contributed nothing – apparently reneging on a circa $1m commitment at the last minute. Whereas the Western Australian government has coughed up $5m to bring the Bledisloe Cup to Perth in October. All this makes it at least understandable why NZR is increasingly looking to take the All Blacks offshore to lift its match-day revenue. Last year, NZR made $32m in match-day revenue – but an estimated $5m of that came from playing a test at Twickenham against England, and another estimated $4m-$6m from playing tests in both Tokyo and San Diego. The five domestic tests – two at Eden Park, two in Wellington and one in Dunedin – likely generated between $21m-$23m, a figure that compares with the estimated $22m that is generated by the Rugby Football Union from hosting a single test at Twickenham. New Zealand is punitively small and poorly equipped when set against the commercial ambition of the All Blacks and if fixture allocation was viewed exclusively through a financial lens, the national team would play most of its home tests in Australia, the UK, Japan and the USA. But of course, the view can't be narrowed to that extent, and a raft of considerations come into the mix about where the national team should play, and because of that, the All Blacks may be a significantly more recognisable brand and a superior high-performance outfit to the Wallabies, but they not in the same league when it comes to making match-day money. Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand's most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
Less building consents being given out
housing politics about 1 hour ago Residential building consents are still heading south with 11 out of 16 regions around the country rubber stamping fewer builds compared to last year. Labour has accused the government of effectively hammering a nail in the coffin of building industry by slashing the number of state houses Kainga Ora is building, contributing to a "huge slow down in construction". The Building Minister has said their maths is all wrong. Building industry analyst Mike Blackburn spoke to Lisa Owen.
