Ian McLean Green Scene Spokesperson for the Green Party

The Green Party is determined to protect our beaches, permanently. How?

We watched Petrobras and Anadarko come, explore, find nothing and go. Each time, brave souls went to sea to carry the message that deep-water oil exploration is unwelcome here.

We watched the release of exploration rights in the marine reserve for Maui's dolphins, and into protected conservation lands onshore.

We applauded when the Commissioner for the Environment came down hard on fracking, when offshore sand mining was rejected, and when Fiordland was protected from ever more incursions into its wilderness.

The Green Party will work towards prohibiting deep-sea drilling for oil; better regulation of coastal shipping in order to reduce the risk of another Rena; improving the capacity of Maritime NZ to respond in the event of a spill; and improving the legal framework so that costs are assigned to the owners rather than to the taxpayer.

Promotion of deep-sea drilling is a lose-lose scenario. We already have more oil reserves than the planet can cope with. If off-shore drilling proceeds, the damage caused by a spill will be catastrophic. We only win if we leave the oil where it is.