Dear Todd,
I am writing to you as the National Party spokesperson on climate change.
I, no doubt like hundreds if not thousands of National Party supporters, was outraged at the treatment handed out to Maureen Pugh on Tuesday. How she was treated smacked of the ‘bully boy’ tactics employed by the other side of the House. It now appears a National Party MP is not entitled to publicly hold a reasonable opinion on a given subject without the risk of a telling-off and being forced into a mea culpa moment. What made it worse is that the comments made by Maureen Pugh reflected the views of many National Party supporters. We too are awaiting the evidence she referred to.
THE SCIENCE AROUND CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT SETTLED.
I, as have many others, read plenty of evidence by scientists to the contrary view held by National. By not acknowledging this, the National Party, if the BFD is a good yardstick and I believe it to be, is losing voters hand over fist. Those of us of more mature years than the generation of most National Party MPs, a great slice of National’s support base I might add, are fed up with a party that has lost any sense of the principles on which the party was founded. We are sick to the back teeth with a party that tends to hug the same side of the road as the government.
If I were National I would be paying a good deal of attention to what is written, and comments made, on The BFD. As you are aware this is a centre-right media site which now has tens of thousands of subscribers and followers. It pains me to have to tell you if you’re not already aware, that the National Party is not trusted by BFD followers. They do not see National as a party they can vote for. On many issues, they find it difficult to differentiate National from Labour. They don’t trust National to do what they say they will do, e.g. repeal Three Waters. This particular lack of trust is historical in nature.
The treatment handed out to Maureen Pugh, to many on The BFD and no doubt elsewhere, is just another nail in National’s election coffin. Anyone who watched Christopher Luxon’s interview on Newshub on Wednesday morning would be aghast at what came out of his mouth. The same applies to Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop. There are plenty of reasons to vote for National, e.g. better economic management, but these are overshadowed by the party’s ridiculous stance on climate change.
If National were to commit to exiting the Paris Climate Accord you would find a very different, higher, number in the polls. Can you please tell me what the $14 billion we have committed is spent on? Can you give me examples of specific improvements our contributions have gone towards? Can you tell me what is the point of New Zealand making any effort on climate change (of course we should) while the highest polluters in the world, with perhaps the exception of America, take no notice?
The likes of China and India are opening new coal mines almost weekly. They have to for their very existence. Now, thanks to the war in Ukraine, Germany and the UK are reopening some of theirs. No one denies climate change. It’s not something new. It’s been around forever. Those of us like Maureen Pugh, are not climate deniers. What we are doing is asking for concrete evidence on the man-made aspect. We are also questioning what lies behind the current political push in this area. We are awake to the bigger picture as to what is going on in this regard.
We are also not conspiracy theorists. As National has advised Maureen Pugh to do, we read plenty. The people you are turning away from National are very well-informed. The politics of the left are only too clear in terms of a world government and the way the Covid pandemic was handled and the way climate change is being pushed is all part of that. President Biden has just signed an agreement whereby the next pandemic will be run worldwide out of the UN, something Donald Trump would never have done. He saw the bigger picture and took America out of the WHO.
Those of us outside of politics can see what is going on here. Holders of the Gold Card have been around for a while and have seen a lot. We did not come down in the last shower. This is why it is so galling to see National, in regard to climate change, buying so comprehensively into a science which is yet to be proven. The correct position for National, if you want to preserve your voter base, is precisely the one put forward by Maureen Pugh. Instead, the party has presented itself as ‘wet and woke’ mirroring those on the left.
To many voters on the right, as you will no doubt find out to your cost, this is an untenable position. We cannot vote for a party that is hellbent on insisting those on the right follow their version of climate change when the reality is that the science is still being debated. As far as there is climate change, we are on the same page. From there on in we differ because, unlike National, we are only too well aware of the other ulterior left-wing global political motives at play. It is sad to see National having been so easily sucked in.
As National is obviously very keen on reading about climate change, how opportune that this book popped up in my inbox this morning. I respectfully suggest every National MP reads it as it reflects the wider picture and the way in which climate change is being used by the left to further their global agenda.
By the way, by treating Maureen Pugh the way the party did it left itself open to National being given a hammering by the left-wing media and, unsurprisingly, they duly obliged. Does the party employ any strategists? If so, my advice would be to dispense with their services. In plain language, sack them.
Kind regards
JC
PS. A read of Cameron Slater’s article on the BFD at 8 am on Wednesday morning and the comments to it will perhaps give you an insight into the depth of feeling with regard to National’s stance on climate change.
