National MP Maureen Pugh’s about-turn on climate change after Christopher Luxon intervenes

National MP Maureen Pugh has done an abrupt about-turn on apparent scepticism about whether humans contributed to climate change after a chat with her boss, leader Christopher Luxon.

In a statement this afternoon, Pugh said she accepted the scientific consensus that human-induced climate change was real and that it was a factor in extreme weather such as Cyclone Gabrielle.

“I regret that my comments this morning were unclear and will have led some to think I am questioning the causes of climate change. That is not my position.”

“We are seeing the impact of climate change in the cyclone that has devastated so much of New Zealand.”

It followed comments this morning that she was “waiting on the evidence” on the extent to which 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 had also said she was not denying that the climate did change, which had “warmed and cooled over millions of years”.

After Pugh’s apparent about-turn, Luxon denied Pugh had now been forced to say something she did not believe to save National from embarrassment.

“She’s owned her statement. In our caucus from day one we are deeply, deeply committed to climate change. That is the position of the National Party, period, end of story.”

He had had a conversation with Pugh about it. “We had a conversation where it was very clear about understanding that there is no dispute – there is science that strongly suggests that man-made climate change is real.”

He said he would be giving Pugh a set of books to read on the matter: “books that I have read, so that she has a fuller understanding of why we believe so strongly in climate change.”

Pugh also denied she had been instructed to issue her second statement and put her earlier comments down to nervousness talking to the media. “I’ve got to say this is not my comfort zone. You guys in front of me with the cameras and speakers and I wasn’t probably calm enough this morning to articulate properly.”

She acknowledged she had probably undermined the party’s position on the issue as a result “and I have apologised to the leader for doing that”.

Luxon has gone to some lengths to try to ensure National is seen as responsible on the issue of climate change, including pushing for political consensus on the actions required.

Earlier Pugh had been asked if she agreed with evidence 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”.

In part of the debate around climate change-related actions to deal with severe weather events, Luxon recently said there was “no doubt” Cyclone Gabrielle was influenced by climate change, which in turn had been affected by human actions.

It followed 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.