MPs this morning were being asked about the cyclone and the impact of climate change. Pugh was asked whether she thought climate change had made the recent cyclones and flooding more extreme.
“Some of the impact I’ve seen, a lot of the damage that was done, especially around Auckland, was because people weren’t allowed to prune and manage trees, that have come down and taken the cliffsides with them.”
She did believe in climate change, insisted Pugh, but was yet to be convinced human activity was a contributor.
“It’s not what I think, it’s what I can prove,” she told reporters.
Pugh said she was waiting for a response from Climate Change Minister James Shaw, after “one of our local councils wrote to him and asked him for the evidence before they impacted their ratepayers”.
“I’m not denying climate change, I’ve seen the evidence of it, we have cooled and warmed, cooled and warmed over millions of years.”
Deputy leader Nicola Willis disagreed with Pugh’s stance and said she would be raising it with the MP: “It’s not for me to explain her comments,” Willis said.
“The science is very clear, that climate change is happening, that man-made emissions have contributed to it, and this is an issue we need to rise to. Look, I’ve got a lot she can read - she’s gonna be doing a lot of reading.”
Leader Christopher Luxon immediately decried Pugh’s view, and said he would be taking it up with her. “I disagree strongly. I’ve seen the evidence. I’ve seen it upfront.”
“I’ll be very clear with my team - I have been right from day one of taking the leadership - that climate change is real. We are deeply committed to net carbon zero 2050.”
The message to his caucus was clear: “If you’re a climate denier or climate minimiser today, that’s just not an acceptable position,” Luxon said.
National MP Maureen Pugh says she is “waiting on the evidence” to show climate change has been influenced by human actions.
Pugh’s comments come as the Government looks to again draw in cross-party support to ramp up actions to combat climate change following the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle.
This includes adaptation measures such as managed retreat in coastal and flood-prone areas alongside efforts to contribute a fair share to the global cause of slashing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global warming.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon has been working hard to reposition his party as taking the climate crisis seriously, recently saying there was “no doubt” Cyclone Gabrielle was influenced by climate change, which in turn had been affected by human actions.
This follows decades of research and warnings from scientists contributing to an overwhelming international consensus that humans are greatly contributing to current climate change through actions including greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and mining.
Speaking to reporters today, Pugh, a National list MP based on the West Coast, was asked if she thought climate change was influenced by human actions.
“I have yet to see the response from James Shaw, where one of our local councils wrote to him and asked him for the evidence.
“It is not what I think. It is what I can prove. I am waiting on the evidence from the minister.”
She said she was not denying that the climate did change, which had “warmed and cooled over millions of years”.
Earlier she was asked if she agreed with evidence that Cyclone Gabrielle, and Cyclone Hale only a month before it, had been more devastating due to climate change.
“Some of the impacts that I’ve seen, a lot of the damage that was done, especially around Auckland, was because people weren’t allowed to prune and manage trees,” Pugh said.
She was then asked again specifically about climate change, responding with reference to back-to-back cyclones that struck the West Coast in 2018: “That’s just things that nature throws at us.”
On Pugh’s comments, Luxon said he “strongly disagrees” and would be “having a conversation” with her.
“I’ve seen it up front, have dealt with businesses that have had to adjust to climate change all around the world and also here in New Zealand.
“For me, it’s very real. I’ve spoken to communities on the ground, go look at Ashburton, the floods, go look at what we’ve seen.”
He said he had been “very clear” with the caucus that climate change was real and the party was committed to net carbon zero 2050.
Pugh’s comments were not supported by any of her other colleagues spoken to, including deputy leader Nicola Willis who said she would be helping her out.
“I will be raising this with her. I’ve got a lot she can read. She’s going to be doing a lot of reading.”
Meanwhile, the Government is looking to further work on climate change adaptation following recent weather events and the rebuild.
This included managed retreat in coastal and flood-prone areas and the thorny issues of who pays.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said there were going to need to be some “tough choices about managed retreat and about not rebuilding in those areas”.
He said it was too soon to say exactly where could be reoccupied or inhabited.
“We need to make sure that we’re acting in a way that treats the people whose lives have been turned upside down fairly and with a good degree of compassion and respect. It’s a really uncertain time for them. I know they want certainty. And we’ll work as fast as we can.”
The Government has also committed to an inquiry into land-use on the East Coast after two storms in less than a month this year that has seen widespread devastation from silt land runoff and woody debris/forestry slash.
