We’ve always lived in ‘a time of consequences’

Simin Williams

Opinion

I should have saved my “hypocrisy reeks to heaven” heading for this news item “Shaw advocates for solar energy” (June 14), or maybe we can make a regular column under that heading as we head into election season!

Let’s first point out that by “wealth redistribution” what the Green Party really means is transfer of wealth from the public purse to multinationals like NZ Steel, to the tune of

$140 million, under the banner of climate change.

And please spare us from the propaganda that the Green Party and its bedfellow the Labour Party want to end poverty in NZ. They have been in power for six years and the level of poverty in NZ is off the charts. They have increased NZ debt from $59 billion in 2017 to $128bn now. Who is going to pay back this debt?

The inflation they have created with their wrong fiscal policies makes their guaranteed income a joke. Are people supposed to use that for paying their rent or mortgage or to pay for food, electricity and transport? Inflation is tax by stealth on everyone.

And what a disingenuous thing to say: “The scale of the storm was such that it was sort of a wake-up call and a realisation that we are living during a time of consequences and that we have to act now.”

We have always lived in “a time of consequences” and he needs to read Ian Wishart’s research into weather events in NZ. Many of the Greens’ policies exacerbated the impacts of these weather events. Do I have to mention their climate policies resulting in NZ farmland being sold to overseas companies for carbon farming, ruining livelihoods here, taking profits overseas and leaving us with slash?

A wake-up call for sure — to say “No” to the Green Party and its destructive policies, which fill up the pockets of multinationals and leave us with costly consequences to deal with, both environmentally and socially.

Putting a stop to air pollution?! This Govt replaced NZ coal with imported dirty coal from Indonesia!

And those solar panels from China, are they cheaper because they are made by political prisoners in China or because the minerals for them are sourced by child labour in Africa? How about Shaw does the maths for those solar panels from production till ending up in the landfills and let us know how they rate vs NZ’s existing energy sources? And can he point to even one town in NZ which runs on solar energy entirely?

During their time in Government, have they done anything to set up systems so the energy companies buy back any extra electricity from home producers?

This one made me laugh: “At the same time it will also help make us more resilient to extreme weather events . . .” Hey, we didn’t even have a functioning 111 during the recent cyclone!!

The Green Party’s tax policies will only make NZers poorer by taxing them and transferring it to multinationals that have billion-dollar profits.

The Greens’ track record over the past six years has definitely not shown any sign of looking after people or the environment.

Jordan has joined the wrong party if Jordan wants to prioritise people over profit! The Green Party is prioritising multinationals over people. When our health workers and teachers are going on strike for a pay increase to just deal with inflation, giving $140m to a private business was shameful!