By Kim Choe
A recent 3 News Reid Research poll found the most important issue to voters was the environment.
This surprised the leaders of many political parties, despite the Rena's grounding in October bringing the issue to the fore.
The Rena spilt around 350 tonnes of oil into the ocean when it ran aground on Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga.
The Government called it New Zealand's worst maritime environmental disaster, but was criticised for taking four days to begin removing oil from the ship.
“It showed that we weren't really prepared,” says Green Party co-leader Russel Norman.
But Mr Norman, among other political leaders, was surprised when told that 1000 voters in the poll considered the environment to be the most important election issue.
“That's not the sort of thing people raise with me when they come along to meetings,” says Labour Party leader Phil Goff, while ACT Party leader Don Brash was also surprised by the findings.
While National is busy cleaning up oil, the Greens are focusing on rivers.
“Rivers are part of who we are and part of what makes NZ such a fantastic place to live in. It's also the underpinning of our clean, green brand, which underpins all of our exports - whether it's tourism or whether it's primary production,” says Dr Norman.
The party wants to:
- Set standards for clean water
- Introduce charges for commercial irrigation
- And use that money to support water clean-up
initiatives
National is also promising to clean up rivers and has asked for a report by May next year on how to set limits for water quality - but the Greens say it hasn't moved quickly enough.
Labour also says it will clean up rivers and supports a polluter-pays system to help it do so.
Federated Farmers recognises the need for water quality management, and says it supports a national solution. However, it is pushing for more industry self-management saying this would be more effective than government regulation
Farmers are also affected by National's plans to slow the introduction of the Emissions Trading Scheme to three phases between 2013 and 15 - with agriculture brought in last.
“My view would be that we need to make sure that we're not putting a straight-jacket on our farmers that would be unfair,” says Prime Minister John Key.
Labour and the Greens have committed to bringing agriculture into the ETS by the original date of 2013.
The three main parties say they're all committed to maintaining New Zealand's clean, green image - it's just a matter of degree and timing.
3 News