Message from our Chair
As you may have seen in the press earlier this week, the Trust has applied for a Judicial Review under the Judicial Review Procedure Act 2016 between the Trust and the Minister of Transport at the High Court in Wellington.
We seek a review of the Minister of Transport's decision to recommend amending (weakening) the Clean Car Standards, enacted on 2nd September 2024 by Order in Council. The full court document and press release are available on our website under the ‘News’ tab. [Here]
Our advocacy in the clean car space follows the ‘Don’t Pull the Plug’ campaign we ran before last October’s general election.
We are doing this for several reasons.
- NZ has to reduce its carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement targets if we are to have any chance of avoiding a climate catastrophe.
- Replacing fossil fuels with homemade clean electricity is essential and is achievable in both the transport sectors and the industrial processes that require heat – over 50% of marine transport is moving oil, gas and coal around the world.
- Reverting to coal and gas exploration in NZ is just plain bonkers (over 50% of marine transport, fuelled by diesel, is moving oil, gas and coal around the world), and we all have to fight the Coalition’s actions in this space.
After filing our Statement of Claim in the High Court, we received this morning the document officially stamped as ‘received’. It will now be served on the Respondent, who is obliged to file a Statement of Defence in response. The Court will then agree on a timetable for the filing of affidavits and legal submissions and set a date for a hearing. This process can take some time.
Nevertheless, we feel strongly that such a review is required. Neither Drive Electric nor the Better NZ Trust were consulted when the Minister of Transport decided that the original Clean Car Standards needed relaxing, having completely removed the Clean Car Discount at the end of last year. I don’t need to remind you that the CCD moved the dial massively for Ev and PHEV uptake and NZ could proudly claim that we were truly following in Norway’s footsteps! As an aside, Christina Bu, the Norwegian EV Association Secretary General, commented on LinkedIn when she saw our press release, saying that we have EV royalty backing us.
This is an interview about the topic
Finally, may I remind you that the Trust is a charitable entity? Although the legal work thus far is being undertaken pro bono, we need funds to run the process, and you could help by sending a donation—as a registered charity, we do issue receipts for tax purposes.
You can donate via bank transfer:
The Better NZ Trust
38-9017-0581201-00
Send us an email with your details if you would like a receipt.