Say the words: "Climate Change"
Christopher Luxon has been missing in action as NZ floods. As assumed deaths and missing people accumulate, Luxon has finally started acknowledging the crisis. Out of touch and lacking compassion.
August 2022.
Jacinda Ardern is still Prime Minister. She is visiting flood affected areas in Nelson, which has been under a state of emergency; 134 houses are red-stickered as a result. There are 500 landslides.
The floods are declared a “once in every 120 years” event and the year is called the “wettest on record for Nelson”
Labour’s Grant Robertson will go on to create a $6 billion ($6000 million) infrastructure resilience fund for Aotearoa New Zealand - money that will be spent to build better infrastructure, prepare for climate change events and flood protection, and support victims of natural disasters.
National will go on to raid this pot to pay for landlord tax cuts, tobacco companies and technology companies when they win the election in 2023.
October 2024.
National is in power now. Otago is flooding. Dunedin city has received about 160mm of rain within 48 hours, 180mm for the suburban hills. The region is in a state of emergency. A lifetime resident of St Kilda, Bailey tells media:
"I have been living in Dunedin my whole life and have never seen anything this bad before, not at all, it's quite wild."
Residents are “scared”.
June/July 2025.
Luxon is missing again on his Hawaiian holiday. Nelson and Tasman residents face intense flooding. Rural Support Trust Top of the South chairperson Richard Kempthorne says long-term residents were in shock, as they had never seen such severe flooding.
“I think to put the scale into perspective, this is for both the Waimea, the Wai-iti and the Motueka rivers, these are floods that you would expect to see maybe once every 100 years. So they are massive floods that pretty much everybody who’s living by them, haven’t seen before.”
It’s ironic that many farmers support National/ACT/NZ First’s systematic and wholescale roll back of environmental protections designed to stem climate change.
January 2026
New Zealand is being battered by floods and wild weather across the country. On Welcome Bay Road in Tauranga, two people are missing and unaccounted for after a slip. One, seriously hurt.
In Mt Maunganui, the unthinkable - six people, including children, are missing after a landslide hit the local holiday park, taking out showers and campervans.
Mark Mitchell, Emergency Services Minister and an ex mercenary who last year claimed homeless people frequently choose to be, has appeared, putting on an empathy hat. “It is deeply stressful”, he says while local Bay of Plenty MP Mark Rutherford urges the public to keep the missing “in their thoughts”.
The East Coast looks like a “war zone” while Northland declared a state of emergency, battered by severe flooding, and cut off towns. Residents describe how the water rushed through homes, taking many by surprise. Whangarei Mayor Ken Coupland says some of the damage up North is “as bad as you can see” in the region.
More than double an average month's rainfall falls in a day in New Zealand, as we are informed again that heating ocean temperatures accounts for more extreme weather - be it hot, cold, or wet.
“We’ve never seen it this bad before”, lifetime residents around the country offer, but for the most part, those voices are drowned out, perpetuated by decades of climate change skepticism fuelled by billions from the fossil fuel industry.
Whether paying off or donating to friendly politicians like Peter Dutton and Donald Trump, or astroturfing and sowing lies, their messaging and tactics have had a resonating impact in our culture and politics.
An article by Bryce Edwards reveals media coverage of climate change in politics is down 41 percent compared to 2024.
When National won the election in 2023, my only thought was:
“I thought Kiwis cared about the environment”
Australian media is not reticent to use the words “climate change” but here in New Zealand, many Kiwis, angry and taught by right wing politicians and interests to attack climate change / environmental efforts and figures, have cast a significant weight on journalists outside of Newsroom, NZ Geographic etc
Even corporate, tabloid Stuff managed to throw together some low visibility articles on the topic, and recognised:
Global air temperatures in 2024 were the highest on record for the tenth consecutive year - more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial era.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels reached their highest in 800,000 years, while glaciers experienced record losses for the third straight year.
Sea levels were rising at twice the rate observed when satellite measurements began in 1993, and for the eighth consecutive year, the world’s oceans were the warmest recorded.
I thought Kiwis cared about the environment.
Do we?
While New Zealand under 5 State of Emergencies, Luxon electioneers
The PM finally starts acknowledging the crisis today - days after accidents, floods, missing people, likely deaths
National, ACT and NZ First removes criteria for mining to provide national or public interest
Cartoons:
Luxon also previously saying we have to stand on our own and can't expect bail outs from the government anymore in disasters. All whilst watering down any climate change policies and wanting to destroy conservation land. He left it up to Mark Mitchell today, who I thought looked like a possum in the headlights. Must say pretty disappointing at surveys that show climate and environment fairly low on peoples concerns. They should be bloody concerned as once the ecosystems start breaking down, flooding will be least of our worries - food and water will be what will become the biggest worry.
Someone in the past week or so renamed 'climate change' as "Climate Crisis" I think that is now a more apt term. Not sure if it was on one of yours or Nick Rs epistles.
Keep hammering in those nails Tui, a coffin large enough for these drongos is what we're aiming for