The Government has shown its disdain for nature by undermining and cutting programmes which protect and conserve our environment.

“For all the Government’s hot air about Budget ‘24, they forgot about the fundamental thing that upholds it all - the environment,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for the Environment, Lan Pham.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars has been cut from environmental protection and conservation programmes, including freshwater quality improvements, climate change programmes, and cleaning up contaminated sites.

“They’ve even cut funding for data collection, to make it harder for New Zealanders to track how badly this Government is trashing our environment.

“For a finance minister who claims to be a ‘blue-green’, Nicola Willis’ budget makes crystal clear that this Government sees the environment simply as a means for corporates and lobbyists to make a few quick bucks at the expense of our future.

“An extractive approach to the environment may be a good way to line the pockets of companies who bankrolled the coalition partners in this government, but it seriously undermines the clean, green, fair country that we owe it to future generations to be.

“The Department of Conservation manages a third of our country’s land, and yet funding is being cut in the Government’s relentless ideologically driven push to reduce public spending - regardless of the consequences.

“Initiatives that protect the environment have been gutted to free up money for tax cuts, and the Waste Disposal Levy is being hijacked for use in disaster response.

“Truly prosperous economic activity is only possible if our planet is also thriving. We depend on healthy nature and a stable climate for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the materials for life,” says Lan Pham.

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