Anne Salmond: How to truly supercharge NZ’s success

2026-02-08 - 16:08

Comment: Christopher Luxon cannot plead ignorance about climate change, biodiversity loss, or the need for good interethnic relations. As chief executive of Air New Zealand, he led the airline in confronting these challenges. With leaders including Sir Jonathan Porritt, Sir Rob Fenwick and others, he promoted a vision of Air New Zealand as a world leader in addressing climate change and collapsing ecosystems, and working with indigenous people. Breakfast sessions in the Viaduct at Auckland attracted large audiences of business and political leaders, journalists, academics and others, as Luxon praised the airline’s initiatives as ‘Supercharging New Zealand’s Success’. Under his leadership, Air New Zealand partnered with the Department of Conservation on restoration projects. The executive team tackled questions of fuel-efficient flight paths, lighter, more fuel-efficient planes, biofuels, electrifying airports and their vehicles and a myriad of other details to deliver air travel that was as planet-friendly as possible. Air New Zealand introduced te reo to its aircraft, sponsored Te Matatini, and worked with iwi on sustainability projects. Having served on Air New Zealand’s Sustainability Advisory Panel for six years, I assumed that when he entered politics, Luxon would hold fast to these commitments. Looking at the National Party’s manifesto on the environment (Blueprint for a Better Environment) and what they said about the Treaty of Waitangi, there was no reason to think otherwise. The promises were all there – ‘deliver for the climate,’ ‘clean up freshwater,’ ‘boost biodiversity,’ ‘protect and celebrate the ocean’. According to its manifesto, National would ‘recognise the Treaty as the founding document of New Zealand’. Over the past two years, however, we’ve seen the National-led coalition, with Luxon as Prime Minister, taking New Zealand in the opposite direction. Rather than stand tall as leader of the majority party, the Prime Minister has allowed fringe parties with very little electoral support (as well as some of his own ministers) to ride roughshod over these promises National made to the electorate. The Fast-track Approvals Act, the Treaty Principles bill, the Regulatory Standards Act, the refusal to plan for climate resilience, attacks on te reo and local government, the promotion of fossil fuels and deep sea mining, the cancellation of environmental funding and moves away from alternative energy in transport and housing – the list goes on, and on. On the Air New Zealand Sustainability panel and as a Pure Advantage trustee, I’ve worked with some of New Zealand’s most astute and globally attuned business leaders. They’re acutely aware of how much our country benefits in international relations and trade from its ‘clean green’ image, and its reputation as a stable, peaceful democracy. At present, those advantages are being squandered. As our democratic institutions are being weakened, fringe politicians seek to inflame racial and ethnic animosity. As twilight industries lobby and extract value from local landscapes, profits are flowing into the pockets of a few, or out of New Zealand. Instead of cleaning up freshwater and protecting the ocean, rivers and harbours are being choked with sediment or poisoned by pollutants and sewage. At the same time, the economy is staggering, hordes of New Zealanders are leaving the country, and climate change is causing havoc. A fortnight ago in Mount Maunganui when a hillside collapsed, holiday campers were buried. In Te Araroa in Tairāwhiti, a family of five including children spent the night on the roof of their house, as torrents of mud and trees battered its walls. A few days later the Prime Minister flew into Te Araroa on a helicopter loaded with boxes of Kentucky Fried Chicken, just two weeks after his government had refused to help fund Tairāwhiti’s business plan for land use change and climate resilience. As he turned to walk back to the helicopter, a female firefighter from the local iwi expressed the views of many. With a graphic gesture meaning ‘w....r’ or ‘tosser,’ she dismissed Luxon’s visit as a political stunt – and who can blame her? Unlike politicians, firefighters are on the front line of dealing with climate catastrophe, and the harm it inflicts on families and communities. As the sea warms and the rain pours down, rivers laden with logs and mud rage through farms, homes and communities. People die in these disasters. Regional economies stagger, businesses collapse, jobs vanish, and households struggle to put food on the table. Instead of dropping off boxes of KFC and praising the marae workers who care for the victims, the Government needs to tackle the root causes of climate change, and back those communities who want to take preventative action. Matthew Hooton has argued that communities like these should simply be abandoned. That’s a suicidal strategy. With arguments like that influencing the government, no wonder the economy is shrinking. What places will be next? Northland, Coromandel and Nelson, and regional towns all over New Zealand? Large swathes of Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin? In our own time, let alone that of our children and grandchildren, will anywhere be safe? That is a counsel of despair. There’s no need to sit by and watch one part of New Zealand after another rendered uninhabitable by the impacts of climate change. Climate change is not inevitable, or irreversible. In addition to the use of fossil fuels, it’s generated by man-made patterns of land and water use that disrupt natural systems. Roads, for instance, may act as artificial waterways that speed up run-off and increase flood risk and erosion. Properly designed, they can help to revitalise watersheds. Electrifying the nation’s vehicle fleet and powering homes with renewable energy will reduce carbon emissions and the cost of living, while saving billions in health costs from air pollution. Restoring natural forests helps to cool the atmosphere, prevent erosion, reduce droughts and floods and foster a rich array of other life forms, while generating a long-term flow of ‘gold standard’ carbon credits for New Zealand. Increasing the number of marine reserves around the coastline increases species size and abundance, and tackles climate change through carbon sequestration. New Zealand, with its small-scale society and diverse landscapes, is a perfect site for such experiments. We could become a world leader in nature-based innovation. This would be a great way to build a more prosperous, resilient economy, restore New Zealand’s ‘clean green’ image and secure long-term access to world markets for our goods and services. As chief executive of Air New Zealand, Luxon was alert to the need to act strategically to survive in a rapidly changing world. As he used to say, this is the way to supercharge New Zealand’s success. As Prime Minister, he must lead on these issues, and not let ideologues and populists play their self-serving games with this country. If Luxon won’t do this, let’s find leaders who will. As increasing numbers of New Zealanders, and others around the world are finding, to their heartbreak, it’s literally a matter of life or death.