Greenpeace is calling the Government’s new policy priority list "the next onslaught in the war on nature" following Christopher Luxon's announcement this morning.

Greenpeace spokesperson Amanda Larsson says, "Luxon’s 90-day hit list outlines his intention to further open the floodgates to environmental destruction.

"Christopher Luxon seems intent on turning New Zealand’s forests and oceans into open cast mines, while making rivers and lakes into sewers. People may have voted for change last election, but they didn’t vote for the wholesale destruction of nature.

"The vast majority of New Zealanders care about nature and environmental regulations exist for a reason - to look after the places that we care about and the things we depend on, like clean drinking water, clean air and a stable climate."

The 90-day "hit list" includes introducing legislation to amend the Resource Management Act to deprioritise the health of freshwater under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, and keeping New Zealand’s biggest climate polluter - agriculture - out of the Emissions Trading Scheme.

"Luxon is willing to sacrifice New Zealanders’ drinking water, precious rivers and lakes, and the very climate that we depend on at the altar of industry," says Larsson.

"Most of New Zealand’s lakes and rivers are already unswimmable, and many rural communities are facing potentially serious health impacts from high levels of nitrate contamination in drinking water. Weakening the national policy statement on freshwater, for example by removing Te Mana o Te Wai, will only make this worse."

The "hit list" also includes taking decisions on reversing the ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration, something which Luxon has faced widespread opposition for.

"Christopher Luxon’s plan to bring new oil and gas exploration back to Aotearoa is irresponsible, nonsensical, and would threaten the very future of life on Earth," says Larsson. "But it’s bound to fail. For ten years, alongside iwi, hapū and a whole movement of opposition, hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders successfully resisted the oil and gas industry’s attempt to start oil exploration. The industry knows that New Zealanders will stand up to resist them again if they try to come back."

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