We are committed to conserving and enhancing our natural environment. This includes, but is not limited to, the air, fresh water, soil, and oceans.
We believe it is the responsibility of all users of these resources to be good stewards and preserve them for following generations to the benefit of all New Zealanders.
Pollution Solutions
Drinkable Water: New Conservative will investigate and implement reasonable and affordable steps to ensure that our rivers and waterways are maintained to the highest achievable standard, and continue to be enjoyed by all New Zealanders. We strongly support existing requirements in waterway fencing and planting and modernising waste water treatment systems to eliminate contaminated discharge into waterways.
Fertile Soil: New Conservative believes in responsible stewardship of our soil, ensuring it is fertile, free from toxins and productive both now and in the future. We will increase research and development funding to provide alternatives to bulk nitrogen fertilising.
New Conservative recognises the importance New Zealand has in producing high quality food for the world and as such would like to see more funds spent looking at ways to enrich our soils like crop rotation, the use of mulch for water retention and adopting practises from other nations achieving success. We believe it is important to reduce our reliance on excessive pesticides and acknowledge the benefit of investing in research and development.
Breathable Air: New Conservative will ensure that our country has clean, breathable air, serving the health and wellbeing of all New Zealanders. We will monitor those with discharge permits to ensure best practice with pre-discharge filtration.
Public/Private Research: New Conservative will invest more in R&D spending to find achievable solutions to our existing pollution issues as well as clearly identifying polluters and best practise to negate pollution. Development of a methodology allowing for joint investment for common desired outcomes where private organisations have an interest in research on environmental impacts.
New Conservative supports the forestry industry based on the value of the timber produced. It is not good governance to subsidise and incentivise forestry for the value of future carbon credits. We do not support the conversion of productive farmland into pine forests.
Climate Regulations
There is no climate emergency. New Conservative will end all climate focused taxes, subsidies, and regulations. Laws like the Zero Carbon Act and Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) impose significant costs on everyday New Zealanders while not improving environmental outcomes.
Our focus should be on the real issues in our own environment, being concerned for, and driven by our own desire for a clean green New Zealand, knowing that by doing that we are already contributing to a cleaner world. We do not need convoluted international “climate change” agreements to achieve this.
While we wholeheartedly agree that the world needs to work together to preserve our environment in the best possible way, we do not believe that paying billions of dollars to third-world countries will achieve those results. We will support R&D and the innovative strengths in our nation. Creating and exporting pollution solutions will have a much greater positive effect on the environment. Targeting funding to the areas where New Zealand faces its greatest challenges gives us real hope of preserving and improving our environment.