Labour did its campaign launch over the weekend, and Jacinda Ardern announced that climate change will be a priority for any government she leads:
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern has targeted climate change as a priority area, saying it was the "my generation's nuclear-free moment".
[...]
Speaking afterwards Ardern said she remained committed to long-standing Labour policy for an emissions trading scheme that covered all gases and all sectors - including agriculture.
However, she said a Labour government would legislate for carbon emissions targets to ensure they were reported.
Good. Because this is the most important challenge facing our species at the moment, and we all need to do our bit to fix it. At the moment, National is dragging its feet and refusing to act so as to continue to subsidise polluters and farmers. And by doing so, they are putting our future directly at risk.
Meanwhile, political journalists are freaking out and regarding this as some sort of attack on the Greens. Hardly. As Ardern points out, it is 2017, and all political parties need to be talking about this. And in case anyone has forgotten, this isn't new territory for Labour: it was Labour who pushed for a carbon tax and who finally managed to pass the ETS in 2008 (though they made it too weak and then it was gutted by National). Policy areas aren't "owned" by parties any more than voters are, and its good to have parties competing in an area which actually matters, rather than on who can be the most vicious to criminals.
