The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Climate change comments 'absurd'

By David Loughrey
Otago Daily Times·
5 Nov, 2016 07:12 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Dave Cull

Dave Cull

A suggestion local and regional councils should deal with the fall-out from climate change, rather than the Government, has been labelled "absurd" by Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull.

Mr Cull was responding to an RNZ story in which Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright said climate change was creating "a slowly unfolding red zone".

She suggested an EQC-style agency needed to be set up to deal with the effects of climate change on homeowners.

But Environment Minister Nick Smith said such compensation would encourage poor decision-making by home buyers.

He told RNZ such a system could make people take on high-risk homes in areas where they could be affected by climate change, because they would know the Government would bail them out, insure or compensate them.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Dr Smith said local and regional government would be mostly responsible for climate-change issues.

In August, the Dunedin City Council called on the Government to help respond to the threat groundwater and sea-level changes posed in South Dunedin.

Councillors voted to "immediately engage" the Government over the threat the changes posed and support for urban renewal initiatives in the area.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The motion was put forward by Crs David Benson-Pope and Aaron Hawkins after Dr Wright said earlier this year South Dunedin presented the "most troubling example" of high groundwater levels in the country.

Asked to respond to the comments, Mr Cull said Dr Smith's comments were "a bit absurd".

"He seems to have come up with the answers before we know what all the questions are."

It was simplistic to suggest compensation was the answer, when urban renewal or drainage might be needed instead.

But if the effects were widespread, it was clear local government could not handle the issue on its own, any more than Christchurch did after the earthquake.

Mr Cull said the issue was not one in which the council would "go to Government and baldly say 'just give us the money'.

"We don't know what we need and what we need it for."

Cr Benson-Pope, a former Labour minister for the environment, said the Government's response would be different if South Dunedin was a low-lying wealthy area of National voters.

The Government had been "woefully dragging its feet" at every level on climate change.

"This is an issue we all have to face up to."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Cr Hawkins said for Dr Smith to suggest people would put themselves at high levels of risk because they could rely on compensation was "laughable", especially considering what Christchurch had endured with the EQC.

Dr Wright was correct the impacts of climate change had the potential to be equivalent in scale to earthquakes, especially for low-lying communities up and down the country.

"It's an issue of national significance for our economic and social wellbeing, and any government with an eye on the longer-term picture would be taking this more seriously."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from The Country

Rural business

'Wrong business, wrong place': Protesters oppose industrial park plan on sacred wetland

The Country

'Not sustainable': Desperate plea from struggling grain sector

Premium
The Country

Hawke’s Bay wool queen sells business to retire after almost 50 years


Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

'Wrong business, wrong place': Protesters oppose industrial park plan on sacred wetland
Rural business

'Wrong business, wrong place': Protesters oppose industrial park plan on sacred wetland

The prospect of increased truck traffic raises safety concerns for children and cyclists.

13 Aug 09:26 PM
'Not sustainable': Desperate plea from struggling grain sector
The Country

'Not sustainable': Desperate plea from struggling grain sector

13 Aug 09:14 PM
Premium
Premium
Hawke’s Bay wool queen sells business to retire after almost 50 years
The Country

Hawke’s Bay wool queen sells business to retire after almost 50 years

13 Aug 06:11 PM


Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet
Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

10 Aug 09:12 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP