“Bureaucrats from the Environment Ministry told a Parliamentary Select Committee that moving people from cars to public transport is a top priority, then admitted that it spent a million dollars on taxis and flights and only $250 on public transport for its own staff,” says ACT’s Environment spokesperson Simon Court.

“Secretary for the Environment, Vicky Robertson sat at Select Committee and lectured politicians about the importance of public transport but was flummoxed when ACT showed her the figures about her own department.

“If bureaucrats are going to lecture Kiwis, they should lead by example. Instead, they tell us what to do while flying and driving around the country.

Between 1 Jan and 29 Nov 2022, Ministry for Environment spent:

o $913,050 on flights (2,686 flights)
o $97,225 on taxi, shuttle and uber
o $251 on public transport

“Under questioning from ACT, the Secretary said, “I haven’t gotten into directing staff to taking different modes of transport, but as we review our budgets we will have to address that.”

“This is next level hypocrisy.

"ACT proposes a realistic, no-nonsense climate change policy that matches our efforts with our trading partners’ with minimal bureaucracy. We should set a cap on total emissions in line with the actual reductions of our trading partners, then allow New Zealanders to import high quality foreign carbon credits so we pay the world price, not an artificial price.

“Other parties are more concerned about appearance of environmental progress than actual progress. ACT stands for real change in our climate policy, ensuring it is practical, effective, and not going to make life harder for New Zealanders."

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