Nicolas Rex Smith is a New Zealand politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the National Party from 1990 to 2021. He served as a Cabinet minister,holding various posts including Minister for Building and Housing,Minister for the Environment,Minister for Climate Change Issues,and Minister of Local Government. For a brief time between October and November 2003 he was the deputy leader of the National Party,then in opposition under Don Brash.
Nanaia Cybele Mahuta is a New Zealand former politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand from 2020 to 2023. In October 2022,Mahuta became the Mother of the House,having served continuously in the House of Representatives since the 1996 general election. She lost her seat in parliament in the 2023 general election.
David William Parker is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as Attorney-General,Minister for the Environment,Minister of Transport and Associate Minister of Finance in the Sixth Labour Government. He previously served as a Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour Government,Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from September 2013 to September 2014,and as interim Leader of the Labour Party from September to November 2014. He represented the Otago electorate at the 47th Parliament and has since served as a list MP.
Simon David Upton is a former New Zealand politician and member of Parliament from 1981 to 2001,representing the National Party,and the current Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
The Resource Management Act (RMA) passed in 1991 in New Zealand is a significant,and at times,controversial Act of Parliament. The RMA promotes the sustainable management of natural and physical resources such as land,air and water. New Zealand's Ministry for the Environment describes the RMA as New Zealand's principal legislation for environmental management.
Otago Regional Council (ORC) is the regional council for Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. The council's principal office is Regional House on Stafford Street in Dunedin with 250–275 staff,with smaller offices in Queenstown and Alexandra. They are responsible for sustainably managing Otago’s natural resources of land,air and water on behalf of the community. Property owners pay rates to both the local and regional councils.
Solid Energy was the largest coal mining company in New Zealand and is a state owned enterprise of the New Zealand Government.
The Fourth National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 2 November 1990 to 27 November 1999. Following electoral reforms in the 1996 election,Jim Bolger formed a coalition with New Zealand First. Following Bolger's resignation,the government was led by Jenny Shipley,the country's first female prime minister,for the final two years.
The environment of New Zealand is characterised by an endemic flora and fauna which has evolved in near isolation from the rest of the world. The main islands of New Zealand span two biomes,temperate and subtropical,complicated by large mountainous areas above the tree line. There are also numerous smaller islands which extend into the subantarctic. The prevailing weather systems bring significantly more rain to the west of the country. New Zealand's territorial waters cover a much larger area than its landmass and extend over the continental shelf and abyssal plateau in the South Pacific Ocean,Tasman Sea and Southern ocean.
Dame Margaret Clara Bazley is a New Zealand public servant. She began her career as a psychiatric nurse and rose through the ranks to senior leadership positions at psychiatric hospitals and district health boards. In 1978 she became the Director of Nursing at the Department of Health,the chief nursing position in New Zealand and at that time the most senior position in the public service held by a woman,and in 1984 became the first female State Services Commissioner. She subsequently held top positions at the Department of Transport and the Department of Social Welfare.
Climate change in New Zealand involves historical,current and future changes in the climate of New Zealand;and New Zealand's contribution and response to global climate change. Summers are becoming longer and hotter,and some glaciers have melted completely and others have shrunk. In 2021,the Ministry for the Environment estimated that New Zealand's gross emissions were 0.17% of the world's total gross greenhouse gas emissions. However,on a per capita basis,New Zealand is a significant emitter,the sixth highest within the Annex I countries,whereas on absolute gross emissions New Zealand is ranked as the 24th highest emitter.
The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme is an all-gases partial-coverage uncapped domestic emissions trading scheme that features price floors,forestry offsetting,free allocation and auctioning of emissions units.
Eugenie Meryl Sage is a New Zealand environmentalist and former politician. She was a Green Party Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2011 to 2023.
The Climate Change Response Amendment Act 2008 was a statute enacted in September 2008 by the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand that established the first version of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme,a national all-sectors all-greenhouse gases uncapped and highly internationally linked emissions trading scheme. After the New Zealand general election,2008,the incoming National-led government announced that a Parliamentary committee would review the New Zealand emissions trading scheme and recommend changes. Significant amendments were enacted in November 2009. Obligations for pastoral agriculture were further delayed. Obligations for energy and industry were halved via a "two for one" deal. Free allocation of units to industry was made uncapped and output based and with a slower phase-out. A price cap of $25 NZD per tonne was introduced.
Fracking has been carried out in New Zealand for over 27 years,mostly in Taranaki and also in coal seams in Waikato and Southland. Concerns have been raised about its negative effects and some local government jurisdictions have called for a moratorium on fracking but this has been rejected by the government. The environmental effects of fracking are regulated by the Resource Management Act (RMA) through the requirement for resource consents.
Dame Alcyion Cynthia Kiro;née Simpson;born 1958) is a New Zealand public-health academic,administrator,and advocate,who has served as the 22nd governor-general of New Zealand since 21 October 2021. Kiro is the first Māori woman,the third person of Māori descent to hold the office.
The property bubble in New Zealand is a major national economic and social issue. Since the early 1990s,house prices in New Zealand have risen considerably faster than incomes,putting increasing pressure on public housing providers as fewer households have access to housing on the private market. The property bubble has produced significant impacts on inequality in New Zealand,which now has one of the highest homelessness rate in the OECD and a record-high waiting list for public housing. Government policies have attempted to address the crisis since 2013,but have produced limited impacts to reduce prices or increase the supply of affordable housing. However,prices started falling in 2022 in response to tightening of mortgage availability and supply increasing. Some areas saw drops as high as around 9% - albeit from very high prices.
The Interim Climate Change Committee is a ministerial advisory committee created by the New Zealand Government in mid–April 2018 to explore how New Zealand transitions to a net zero emissions economy by 2050. The Interim Committee was superseded and replaced by an independent Climate Change Commission under the Climate Change Response Amendment Act in November 2019.
The Climate Change Commission is an independent Crown entity that advises the New Zealand Government on climate change policy and monitors the government's progress towards New Zealand's emission reduction goals within the framework of the Climate Change Response Amendment Act. The Commission was established as the successor to the Interim Climate Change Committee following the passage of the Zero Carbon Act in November 2019.
The Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 (NBA),now repealed,was one of the three laws which will replace New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The NBA aimed to promote the protection and enhancement of the natural and built environment,while providing for housing and preparing for the effects of climate change.
