The Irrationality of New Zealand's Green Party

If the Green Party is anything to go by, environmetalism in New Zealand is in a sorry state. Perhaps the most glaring weakness in the Green's proposals is a total lack of any population policy. Surely if the Greens are really concerned with New Zeland's environment they should adopt a policy of limited immigration. Instead, they seem to be more concerned with the political rights of immigrants from dubious backgrounds such as Ahkmed Zouei. If New Zealand expects to survive as a first world country in an over-populated world it is going to have to turn away a lot of refugees. The Greens must abandon their outdated, marxist attitude to immigration.

The Greens also display a muddled attitude to transport issues. If it is so logical to spend less on roads, as the Greens argue, then why are the environmentally conscious Scandinavian countries spending more on roads? The fact is that even if petrol price scarcity reduces the number of petrol powered cars on the road we will still rely on roads as our primary surface for travel, whether for cars or scooters, bicycles and buses. Good quality roads reduce travel times and also save petrol, vehicle wear and tear, aid cyclists and reduce road fatalities. Why not upgrade our roads now before tarmac also becomes too expensive for large scale projects - it may be the last chance we get. The Greens would be better promoting bio-fuels that could reduce our CO2 emissions, create jobs and save on costly petroleum imports. Another ill-conceived proposal advocated by the Greens is increasing the tax on diesel. Clearly the Greens do not realise that diesel is a much better fuel than petrol, hence its popularity in Europe where fuel is more expensive.

In their claims for wind power the Greens are guilty of the sort of technological utopianism usually associatedwith the Act Party. Wind power is a useful adjunct to other forms of energy production but can only supply a small proportion of the nation's total energy requirements- wind can't power the Camalco Smelter for example. Only in the lower North Island (which is particularly windy!) can wind make a serious contribution to energy needs.

Job creation strategies are also absent from the Greens policies. Under the Greens, income tax would be raised while businesses would receive no R and D assistance to compensate them for a raft of new environmental regulations. However, most leading environmental economists believe that income taxes should be lowered at the same time that environmental taxes are increased. This would increase employment and give the Greens a better image among voters. Why should people vote for the Greens if their policies are going to put them out of work?