Bruce Bisset: We need an empowered Government to stop the apocalypse

The Australian bushfires show why we need an empowered government to fight climate change. Photo / File

As someone who likes to call it as I see it and not pull punches, I'm aware I'm inclined to be bullish in my speech and in my writing, but I make no apologies for that; if a nail's there to be hit, I hit it.

However I'm also very aware many folk react to how you say things, rather than what you're saying, so I do try to soften with humour or mitigate negatives with positives where possible; after all, the trick is to keep people engaged so as to be informed.

And as I always say, I'm not asking folk to agree with me; I only want them to think.
What does surprise is when I step out of the box a section of readers have consigned me to and say something that, for them, is upsetting. It's as if I'm not allowed to have a difference of opinion on their opinion of my opinions.

Take last week's column on the failure of the coalition Government to adequately begin to address climate change. I suspect no one except an outright denier would argue the Government's inaction – or to be fair, extremely modest actions – is patently underwhelming.

Bruce Bisset. Photo / File

Yet because I chose to frame that critique as a personalised letter to Jacinda Ardern – as well as having a go at Winston Peters and James Shaw while I was at it – I've copped a lot of online flak. Mostly from fellow "leftists", who in general terms demanded to know if I thought having National back would be better.

Well, no, obviously not. A decade's worth of disregard for and destruction of our environment under their watch is not something I wish repeated, next or any other year. That our overall greenhouse gas emissions increased significantly in John Key's time – when, in accord with the international agreements we've signed, they were supposed to be going down – speaks for itself.

But that's only relevant as background. To have a Labour leader declare climate change their number one priority and then as prime minister fail to address it as the emergency it is needs to be called out just as clearly.

Indeed, more so, since that's the platform a lot of us voted for.

Sure, most of us didn't vote to have NZ First's slow-clap tepidity holding things up. But that's the baby the bath came with; just get on and fill it and let the baby either clean itself or get out.

I'm talking to Boomers and even older readers, in particular. For many of whom Peters holds a strange fascination as some sort of talismanic showman-cum-saviour.

But he is anything but. He may have helped form this Government, but he is not supporting it.

And that, in large part, was the point, dear readers. That if we are to avoid apocalypse, we need a government that is fully empowered to make the changes it has to make to get us through this crisis.

You only have to consider the future your grandchildren, and their children, will bear (if they can) if radical measures to redress climate change are not immediately put in place.

With NZ First or National in the driving seat, that won't happen and, as Australia is already discovering, your grandkids will be the ones affected.

And here's the thing: the changes needed may be radical for you, but they're life-saving for those to come – and you won't have to put up with them, will you?

You've got most of a year to think about it. And then, for once, vote outside your comfort zone and give the next generations a realistic chance to enjoy the lives you've given them.