Sunday 29 September 2024

On Monday 30 September, Oil Free Wellington along with Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Wellington City Councillor Nīkau Wi Neera, climate justice activists and members of the public will gather at Parliament to peacefully protest against the Government's proposed return to new oil and gas exploration. They will then march to Todd Energy, 95 Customhouse Quay. The protest takes place one day before the Government's 4-day consultation on their proposed amendment to the Crown Minerals Act closes.

“With the coalition of chaos government pushing through laws to reopen new oil and gas exploration in Aotearoa, it is time to say no to their climate denial, time to say no to their attacks on te Tiriti o Waitangi and time to say no to new fossil fuels! They don’t want to hear us. So they're only giving people four days to submit on their bill. So let’s make them hear us,” said Oil Free Wellington spokesperson Michelle Ducat. “We will protest outside Parliament, then we will march to Todd Energy to remind their owners that they are not welcome here.”

“We are in the critical decade to take action to end fossil fuel extraction. We need to radically transform how we organise society so it is in the interests of the many,” said Michelle. “Instead of more war, we need regional cooperation to address and respond to climate change across the Pacific. Instead of handouts to landlords and tobacco companies, we need to ensure everyone has a house, adequate food and health care and education, and free public transport. And instead of reopening oil and gas exploration, we need to double down on the commitments Aotearoa New Zealand made at Paris, and implement those changes at every level - household, school, community, iwi, local government and nationally.”

“We were proud to be part of the earlier wave of local oil free groups who stood with mana whenua and opposed oil exploration in the 2010s. We were delighted with the support shown by people in Wellington for this kaupapa, including the Change Everything conference and on water mobilisation we held in 2015. We were also delighted that Wellington City Council signed up to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty last year. We are a city for peace, and a city for people and a city for a liveable future for all,” said Michelle.

Oil Free Wellington was formed in late 2012 and organised non-stop against offshore oil and gas, and for climate justice, until the Labour Government’s 2018 announcement that oil and gas exploration will cease. This was not the case in Taranaki, and Oil Free Wellington members have regularly joined protest in Taranaki in the years since.

“We need a just transition, ensuring that those employed in the fossil fuel industry have their employment and conditions secured as they transition to different mahi. We need a constitutional transformation, to actively live out Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We need everyone except the fossil capitalists to join us in the fight for a sustainable and fair future for all, and so we call on people to join us at Parliament and outside Todd on Monday 30 September to again say no to new oil and gas drilling. Kāti te whai penehīni.”

NOTES

Oil Free Wellington is a group of Wellingtonians who organise together for climate justice - and to resist the expansion of the oil and gas industry. We formed in 2012 when Texas oil company Anadarko were granted a permit to prospect off Wellington's cost. In 2018, we threw a party to celebrate the announced ban on new oil and gas exploration. Since then we have traveled to Taranaki to stand in solidarity with locals who have still faced oil and gas exploration and extraction.

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