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Kia ora, welcome to our final newsletter for 2024.
This has been a challenging year for health, healthcare, and climate advocacy in Aotearoa. Often it has felt like we have been responding to overwhelmingly disappointing news. More proactive awareness-raising and mobilisation are an important focus for us over the coming months. We aim to be part of a considered and broad opposition movement within the health and climate advocacy communities. The recent hīkoi mō Te Tiriti has been heartening and is a ray of hope for a more just future.
Nothing that threatens the future of life will be tolerated. That is what Indigenous Leaders in Brazil declare as true partners for COP-30. The interconnected climate and health crisis is indeed a crisis in relationality, power, leadership, and values. Regardless of COP29's disappointing outcomes, as a health community, we must speak out against narratives that portray health-enabling change as political dead ends. We must enable alternatives that uphold equity and enhance relationality.
There are no shortcuts, but by taking this moment to regroup and strengthen our efforts, we can rise to meet the challenges ahead. We hope that you and whānau have a restful break over the coming weeks.
Ngā mihi nui,
Summer & Dani
Co-convenor, Coordinator, OraTaiao: Aotearoa NZ Climate & Health Council
OraTaiao AGM
We held our annual general meeting in November. This was Dermot's last AGM as co-convenor after four and a half years in the position. We are so grateful for his skillful, calm, and dedicated leadership. This leaves our co-convenor position, shared with Summer, open. We said goodbye to Penny Milsom and Peter Bernhardt, who are leaving the executive board, and a warm welcome to Steve Grimson, who is joining.
We were fortunate to hear from Melanie Nelson, our AGM guest speaker. You can watch her presentation here.
Melanie spoke about the proposed Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill. Both are anti-equity, anti-environment, and anti-Tiriti, and both need opposing and exposing. ACT’s outdated libertarian principles, namely supremacy of individual and private property rights, are being put forward to replace Treaty-based principles and collective, environmental, and equitable rights. Essentially, freedom for corporations and equality for those with wealth. The Fire Economy and Jane Kelsey's article speak to this. We are seeing signals of this privatisation and under-resourcing, resulting in healthcare worker strikes across the country.
We call on our members to bring awareness to the impacts of these two bills, particularly in regard to health. Please help share this information with your family, friends, and colleagues and encourage them to submit. More on this below.
Te Tiriti working group update
A huge thank you to everyone who signed and shared our open letter, calling for a united health sector in opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill. We were blown away by the response, with over 1200 signatories and such powerful commentary. You can read our media release here.
We are now working on submissions for the Treaty Principles Bill and Regulatory Standards Bill. Submissions close on 7 January 2025 and 13 Jan and we encourage you to write your own. See below for some useful resources to support you.
The Regulatory Standards Bill is described as the ‘dull and dangerous cousin’ of the Treaty Principles Bill and proposes an extreme libertarian foundation for our nation's future. It prioritizes productivity gains over the health of people and the planet. There is nothing in the Bill about protecting people’s rights, or health, including rights to a safe environment. The proposed Bill would give businesses a license to externalize a broad range of social and environmental costs onto the public. Public health and well-being would deteriorate, as would environmental protection. We encourage you to read Emeritus Professor Jonathan Boston's detailed submission and the draft submission by the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum for further information. We fundamentally oppose this Bill and call for our members to give this attention.
Image from Disinterpreted | Melanie Nelson
Educate yourself, your family, and your friends over the next few weeks. Advocate and make submissions, share resources, and nurture your cultural capability.
Resources:
Transport working group update
The New Zealand Transport Agency released a discussion document in November about increasing the “private share of public transport operating expenditure”. This means that councils would need to take in more revenue to offset the cost of running public transport by charging more money for buses, ferries, and trains. While not set into policy yet, this document shows a clear direction from the government and one that OraTaiao fundamentally rejects.
Our transport working group, led by Steve Grimson, has written a letter to Transport Minister Simeon Brown, calling for the government to reverse this defunding and invest in public transport as a health intervention. Please consider writing a letter to Simeon (feel free to use our template) to show widespread health professional disapproval of such a damaging proposal.
We will be engaging with the media on this. If you would like to get involved, email Steve to be added to the working group.
On a more positive note, the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is coming up this February! Let’s get more people riding bikes and loving it :)
 Image from Love to Ride
Connect - Learn - Take Action:
Taking down the fast-track
The Fast-Track Approvals Act, along with other legislation such as the Treaty Principles Bill, is intended to override iwi, hapū, and community opposition to resource extraction and other destructive projects. Here are some lessons from how one fast-track project was defeated. The Climate Resistance Handbook also features, which brings together a wealth of learnings and practical wisdom from the climate justice movement.
“This book is for those of you who, like me, have been part of an action and wanted to know: What’s next? How can I not only feel — but be — more powerful?”
Image from The Commons Social Change Library
Call from Evidence from The Climate Change Commission
The Climate Change Commission has opened a call for evidence for the next National Climate Change Risk Assessment. The assessment’s main purpose is to inform the government’s national adaptation plan and identify priorities to focus on. If you have relevant organisational reports, community-led adaptation processes, or stories of lived experience observing and adapting to the changing climate, please make a submission and encourage your networks to share too.
The Health National Adaptation Plan (HNAP) 2024-2027 launch webinar highlights health considerations at the forefront of Aotearoa’s climate change response. It also provides tools to support sectors outside of the health system to respond to the intersection of health and climate change.
Do you have experience in advocating for population health issues? Share your thoughts!
You are invited to participate in a 10-minute survey exploring the experiences of those working in population health advocacy across Australasia. By participating you will help inform future support and resources for advocates, including those working in climate and environmental health. Access the survey here. Contact Alexandra from Macquarie University for more information.
Toitū te Tiriti, Toitū te Taiao.
Keeping active is important, but so too is rest. Te taiao takes the time to restore and replenish. As part of te taiao, make sure you do too.
 Photo by AR on Unsplash
This newsletter was written by Danielle Newton.
OraTaiao: Aotearoa New Zealand Climate and Health Council
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