14 July 2014 – Wellington

Forest & Bird media release for immediate use

Forest & Bird welcomes aspects of new Internet Party policy

Forest & Bird welcomes several aspects of the Internet Party’s new environment manifesto.

Its policies cover fracking, deep sea oil drilling, and freshwater management - amongst others.

“The Internet Party has identified both fracking and deep sea oil-drilling as being insufficiently regulated, and that the Emissions Trading Scheme has been watered down to the point of being ineffective,” Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says. “Forest & Bird supports those conclusions.”

The party is also campaigning on commissioning a report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) on how best to clean up New Zealand’s lakes and rivers.

"While the PCE has a record of coming up with very well-considered and researched reports, this work has already been done to a considerable extent by the multi-stakeholder Land and Water Forum,” Kevin Hackwell says.

"The Internet Party appears to be ignoring the PCE’s advice on 1080, and says it will spend more money on trying to find alternatives to 1080.

“The PCE’s reports on 1080 have found it is safe, and is the only effective means to control predators across whole landscapes.

“Huge amounts of money have already been wasted on looking for alternatives to what is a very effective and safe pest control technique. We should have spent that money instead on actually protecting our endangered wildlife,” Kevin Hackwell says.

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