ACT's Simon Court

The government has recently reduced biogenic methane emission targets to 14-24% by 2050, changing the reductions passed in 2019 under the Zero Carbon Act of cuts between 24-47% below 2017 levels by 2050.

These changes have faced criticisms from the Opposition and climate activists, and scientists. Green Party co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick, says “This methane denial betrays farmers who are on the front line of climate-driven extreme weather events that threaten global food production and rural livelihoods”.

For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, New and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to Court about the target changes.

They also discussed this week’s multi-sector strike action, which will be attended by workers from various sectors, such as the medical and education sector.

Public Service Minister Judith Collins, regarding teachers striking, called the strike action “unfair and unwarranted,” and said that the union, the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association’s (PPTA’s) primary agenda was to discuss Palestine with Education Minister Erica Stanford. However, PPTA President, Chris Abercrombie, disputed this, saying Palestine was one of several topics the union had wanted to discuss with the Minister, including AI in education and changes to NCEA.

They discussed this, but first, we discussed the government’s changes to methane targets.

On Wednesday, the government announced new energy reforms in its Energy Package.

This follows a review into the sector being undertaken by Frontier Economics. Despite this, the government has decided not to follow a significant amount of recommendations within the review.

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Court about this package, and some of the backlash the government has received from the sector regarding it.

They also discussed Samuel Leason, Rana Hamida, and Youssef Sammour, being detained in Israel by attempting to deliver aid to Gaza.

The interception of these vessels is illegal under international law, as the interceptions took place in the Mediterranean Sea between 70-80 nautical miles off of the Gazan coast.

This comes a month after over a hundred humanitarian groups have signed an open letter calling for Israel to allow essential aid into the besieged Gaza Strip. They say they are “not authorised” to deliver aid, unless they comply with tough Israeli measures.

Joel also spoke to Court about the three New Zealand detainees, and what the government is doing to get them home.

But first, they discussed energy reforms.

The Government has announced some new secondary school subjects and changes to current ones, which will be a part of the proposed new curriculum.

Some of the subjects include: earth and space sciences, civics, politics, and philosophy, media, journalism and communications, and te mātai i te ao Māori

However, art history as a subject is set to be axed, instead being integrated into other visual art subjects such as design, painting, and photography. In addition to this, outdoor education as a subject is set to become fully vocational.

Those in these sectors have criticised these moves, with Auckland Art Gallery’s head of curatorial and exhibitions Sarah Farrar, saying the move will close doors for young people, with Claire Amos, principal at Albany Senior High School, saying that making outdoor education vocational will result in a loss of funding for the subject.

For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host spoke to him about these topics.

Recently, ACT Party Leader, David Seymour, announced the party’s position statement on climate, saying that if the Paris Agreement isn’t reformed, the country should leave the agreement.

The Paris Agreement, signed by New Zealand by the then National-led government in 2016, aims to keep the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with an overall aim of keeping the temperature increase to 1.5°C. Currently, Aotearoa is one of 195 UN parties to adopt this framework.

If the country were to leave the Paris Agreement, the country would join the likes of the US, who signed an executive order to withdraw this year, and Iran, Libya, and Yemen, who have never formally joined the agreement.

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to him about the Paris Agreement, and our future with this framework.