It Is the Cover-up That Gets You in the End

Stuart Smith
MP for Kaikoura
Spokesperson for Climate Change, EQC and Viticulture

I was invited by Climate Change Minister, James Shaw, to attend COP 26 in Glasgow later this year and indicated that I was interested in attending, subject to suitable travel arrangements being available. At that time it looked like I would be able to self-isolate at home on return, providing I was fully vaccinated; however, when that option was cancelled, I decided not to attend. Like all electorate MPs I receive emails every day from Kiwis trying to get a MIQ slot so that they can return home – some for family emergencies – and I felt it impossible for me to take a place ahead of these people.

James Shaw, on the other hand, decided to push on, and upon inquiry, we learned that he will take nine officials from New Zealand with him, and five others from overseas will join them. That is one more than the thirteen who attended COP 25 two years ago. So, that is ten MIQ spaces for the returning delegation. James Shaw initially claimed they would join the MIQ queue and told media he was number 15,000 in the queue for the 3,000 available spaces. It is beyond belief that a Government delegation would rely on a random process such as the MIQ Lobby ballot. The Prime Minister then dropped him in it a few hours later when she told media that the delegation would get access to MIQ via the ‘National Interest Criteria’ – which to qualify, has a minimum of twenty rooms. As is usually the case it is the cover-up that gets you in the end, and with James Shaw trying to make excuses as he went along it made it a much more prominent issue.

James Shaw had also refused to come to Parliament under level 4 saying it would “literally risk lives”. Unfortunately, he seems to be unaware that Scotland is a Covid-19 hotspot with over 2,500 cases and 2 deaths per day on average at the time of writing, or more than a hundred times more cases than New Zealand was having at the time he made that statement.

That said COP 26 is an important conference and New Zealand should be there, and Zoom would seem an obvious solution, however, this is not an available option. It is the ultimate of ironies that there will be quite a lot parking space for private jets required in Glasgow, and no virtual participation, which is out of step with the ultimate aim of the conference which is to drive global greenhouse gas emissions down.

The spike in COVID cases on Wednesday was an unwelcome shock for us all, however, on the same day the National Party announced our pathway out of COVID which was very well received. With all the resources available to Government it is unbelievable that New Zealand doesn’t have such a plan, until now, that is. We deserve far more from a Government that has had more than a year to get their act together. Thanks to Dr Shane Reti and Chris Bishop in particular, who did all the work on the details, but all in all it was a team effort. And a huge thanks to our leader Hon Judith Collins who had the courage to do what Jacinda Ardern did not want to do, that is to show us a way out of this mess.

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