Source: Radio New Zealand
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Proposed changes to climate legislation are an attack on the rule of law, the Environmental Defence Society says.
The government announced on Tuesday it would amend climate law to prevent companies from being sued over damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
But Environmental Defence Society chief executive Gary Taylor told RNZ that the fact it was about climate law was incidental.
“It’s actually an attack on the rule of law,” he said.
In 2024, iwi leader and activist Mike Smith was granted permission by the Supreme Court to sue Fonterra and other major dairy and fossil fuel companies.
He argued the companies, which collectively contributed about a third of New Zealand’s emissions, had a legal duty to him and others in communities that are being damaged by the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.
The hearing, which was sent back to the High Court, was due to start in April next year.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the change would apply to current and future cases.
Gary Taylor Supplied
Taylor said there were two things wrong with the proposal.
“The first is that the government is proposing to limit New Zealanders’ rights to sue in civil proceedings, and the second is that it’s doing it when there’s an active case, Mr Smith’s case, before the courts that the Supreme Court has ruled should be heard.”
Taylor said Goldsmith should be ashamed of himself “for bringing a bill of this kind to Parliament”.
“I think his colleague, the Attorney General, should be investigating it for lack of consistency with the Bill of Rights Act.
“It’s pretty outrageous, and it raises issues that go far beyond climate change into the so-called comity between the different arms of government – the executive, the Parliament, and the courts – and here we’ve got a prime example of executive overreach, where they’re wanting to intervene in a judicial process and take someone’s legitimate rights away from them.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand