His group has hit out at the Government's Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill, arguing it would fail to stop an oil spill or climate change.
The bill, which had its second reading last Wednesday, establishes an environmental management regime for New Zealand's vast but currently unregulated Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which lies between 12 and 200 nautical miles off the coast.
Parliament's local government and environment committee was last month unable to agree that the bill should be passed, with Labour, the Greens, and NZ First all saying it lacked sufficient environmental protections and was not consistent with New Zealand's international treaty obligations.
Greenpeace has also joined East Coast iwi Te Whanau a Apanui in appealing an early decision not to revoke the permit given to Petrobras to explore for oil in the deep water off the East Cape.
The two groups are arguing the potential effects of a major oil spill were not considered by the Government before it granted the permit and that Te Whanau a Apanui was not adequately consulted when it was granted.
The groups united outside Tauranga District Court yesterday to support Opotiki fisherman Elvis Teddy, who was arrested on April 23, 2011, for allegedly operating his ship in a manner that caused unnecessary risk to Petrobras' Orient Explorer by breaching the exclusion zone around it.
He is also charged with resisting arrest.