Off the back of criticism against the Government's plan to tackle climate change and in the wake of last week's nationwide protests, National Party leader Simon Bridges has clarified his position on the topic and said he doesn't see it as an "emergency".
Mr Bridges was quizzed this morning by TVNZ1 Breakfast host John Campbell on if his party understands climate change.
"It's very simple," he said. "I believe, and I've been associate climate minster for several years, I believe in climate change. I don't see it as an emergency. I think firstly that is unhelpful and worrying, and I think more than that I think it is in the absence of action. We all pat ourselves on the back and then we kind of move on."
Mr Bridges also defended his retweeting of an opinion piece, by 19-year-old university student Eve McCallum and published by the Herald on Monday, which says climate change is "a state of complete ridiculousness" and "brainwashing".
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Mr Bridges said he wanted to show solidarity with Ms McCallum - who is from a farming family.
"She is right," he said when talking about the hysteria around climate change.
"I believe in climate change, I believe we need sensible, practical actions. I don't see any of that from the Government by the way."
Mr Bridges slammed the Government in saying Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had "big talk" at the United Nations on what New Zealand was doing to tackle the problem, yet had not done the work.
"They haven't done any of them other than actually the oil and gas ban which has seen emissions going up."
He said if National was in Government, they would promote the move to more sustainable transport and offer incentives that wouldn't hurt people already struggling financially.
"You can do quite a bit in that area and it doesn't have to hit and hurt hardworking Kiwis," Mr Bridges said. "In transport I've always been abundantly clear about the future for electric vehicles, about the need for incentives and that, and also the need for public transport."
Mr Bridges opposed the Governement's policy announcements on electric vehicles, saying "I don't accept a car tax when you've got people doing it rough, when they're sleeping rough, when they're paying rent that's gone up higher and faster than ever, when they're feeling it at the pump in petrol taxes".
"They can't just move to a Tesla because they can't afford it."
