A climate protest turned into a people’s assembly inside the New Plymouth District Council chamber where rangatahi, mana whenua, grandparents, scientists, and community members addressed Mayor Neil Holdom demanding urgent actions to bring down emissions and support for the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration.
Demands:
- Support the oil & gas ban
- Support a community-led just transition plan
- Reforest council lands
- Ban PKE, LNG, Blood Phosphate imports at the port
- Land back not fast track
- Toitū Te Tiriti
- Solidarity with Palestine
Rangatahi brought their concerns for the future and the lack of action by politicians, and others rebutted the mayor’s pro-industry presentation reminding him that we have known there will be energy crises and job layoffs but the solution is not to go back to dirty fossil fuels.
We have known about the need to get off fossil fuels for decades and since the offshore ban, there have been no genuine efforts to transition Aotearoa’s economy and communities to that effect.
A few energy companies got free bus services or assistance for research and development, while agriculture is left to continue business-as-usual and our country is failing to meet its international obligations.
We are living in a polycrisis where ecological systems are crashing and wars over resources are spreading. An import-export economy is not sustainable and hydrogen cannot replace fossil fuels. We need to rebuild a local, renewable economy that is climate resilient.
The government needs to take a strong stand to control energy prices so we don’t see things like timber mills laying off hundreds of workers and cyclones destroying communities. We must start urgent action on a community-led just transition off fossil fuels.
Climate Justice Taranaki 