Climate Protest Targets Plan to Abolish Environment Ministry
On Wednesday, 11 March starting from 8:15am, Climate Liberation Aotearoa (CLA) will be outside the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) to illustrate the huge range of ecological destruction that is part and parcel of the Government’s reckless proposal to shut MfE and replace it with a new mega-Ministry focused on urban development.
“Our action will highlight this Government’s destructive, anti-scientific attitude to the natural world. Our lives and our children are all being willfully thrown into a future hellscape where our life-giving systems simply no longer function.”
Forty years ago, MfE was created through the Environment Act. The need for a dedicated environmental agency was considered so important that Parliament chose to write it into law.
Now, under the direction of Housing, Transport, RMA Reform and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop, with Environment Minister Penny Simmonds cheering from the sidelines, the Government has introduced a Bill to bin MfE. The proposal has appeared out of nowhere, with no prior consultation, barely any government scrutiny, and is being rammed through Parliament with a truncated select committee phase that restricts public participation.
The Government alleges the Bill is only “minor and technical” because MfE’s functions will be retained and transferred to the CEO of the new mega-Ministry. But, the CEO will also be responsible for carrying out other, conflicting, higher-priority policy goals to build up cities and regions, with no guarantee of specialised officials to help them weigh environmental considerations. This is completely different to the present situation where those functions are the sole focus of an environment Ministry with dedicated staff to carry them out.
“Anyone can see that this proposal is the opposite of minor and technical. Abolishing MfE is a monumental change to the machinery of government, specifically calculated to remove evidence-based independent advice about the planetary limits to endless growth, and the deteriorating health of Aotearoa’s climate, waterways, coastlines, marine environment, and biodiversity.”
“The Government clearly finds this advice irritating because it conflicts with its reckless pro-development agenda. Rather than stepping in to invest in urgent actions and real solutions to protect our environment and the interconnected wellbeing of people and planet, this Government has chosen to respond with a Bill to silence environmental perspectives.”
The Bill will also delete the provisions in the Environment Act that allow the Ministry to hire specialised staff to support with achieving its environmental functions, and that require every officer or employee of the Ministry to have regard to environmental matters.
“This throws into question what will happen to existing MfE staff and whether their expertise – or any environmental expertise – will still be welcome in the new Ministry.”
“We are less than three months into 2026 and already the same number of weather-related states of emergency have been declared as in the entirety of 2025. The climate crisis is upon us. At a time when a dedicated voice for the environment within government is needed more than ever, the coalition of chaos wants to silence it.”
