Key’s challenge to Deep Sea Oil Drilling Protesters
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Key has made a challenge to Deep Sea Oil Drilling Protesters,
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“The comments I made in rebuttle were to the leader look, come to Wellington, spend a week with my ministers and their ministries. If at the end of that week you’re proved to be right in the assertions you’re making, I’ll join your protest.
“But if you’re proved to be wrong, go out there and tell the protesters, because many of the things he was saying were just simply and utterly not correct. And that’s why those people are protesting – because they’ve effectively got misinformation.”
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That’s quite a challenge.
However, issuing such a challenge is ultimately futile. For a challenge to be accepted, there has to be a measure of trust on both sides.
Quite simply, the days of trusting our current Prime Minister – with all his broken promises; bending the truth; lying by omission; ducking responsibility; shifting blame onto others; telling only half the truth (or less); and outright lies – is long gone.
As just one example. Let’s not forget that when Greenpeace first released their modelling of a deep-sea oil blow-out, it was dismissed as “scare-mongering” by the Prime Minister,
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Two months later, and documents released by Maritime New Zealand (prompted by an Official Information Act request for Anadarko’s discharge management plan) revealed even more disturbing news – Greenpeace had actually under-estimated the effects of a deep-sea oil blowout!!!
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So Key’s dismissal of Greenpeace’s report had been wrong. Greenpeace’s modelling was not only shown to be correct, but actually under-estimated any disaster scenario.
Did Key admit that his initial assessment of Greenpeace’s report was premature and wrong?
Did Key apologise?
Did the Anadarko report prompt Key to review his support for deep sea oil drilling?
Did Key announce “I’ll join your protest!”?
The answer to each of those four questions is a flat out; “No”.
So this blogger wonders; why should any protestor take up Key’s challenge when our Prime Minister has already demonstrated he is not to be trusted?
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References
Radio NZ: PM dismisses Greenpeace oil spill report
Fairfax media: Oil leak numbers far worse than assumed
Radio NZ: PM says deep sea protesters misled
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Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 5 February 2014.
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Frankly Speaking... 
Key’s challenge, Cunliffe’s support for, what Russel Norman is willing to negotiate over, all ignore the escalation of climate change that unconventional fossil fuel extraction technologies like Deep Sea Oil represent.
David Cunliffe once said that the quest for harder and more expensive to source oil supplies, (like Deep Sea Oil), is not sustainable. And that future generations would find such course of action, ‘scarcely believable’.
When it comes to the Deep Sea Oil debate, (either willfully, or unconsciously) the Prime Minister, David Cunliffe and Russel Norman concentrate on the danger of oil spills.
Deep Sea Oil, Fracking, Tar Sands, Shale Oil, Arctic Oil Drilling, all the new and unconventional sources of oil must be left in ground if there is to be any chance of avoiding catastrophic breakdown of the climatic conditions that support human civilisation and the natural biosphere.
Ignoring the question of climate change makes the Prime Minister’s challenge worthless. Gareth Hughes who has looked at the same data, that John Key is challenging the protest leaders to look at, has admitted that the chance of a major spill, though catastrophic, is remote. Gareth Hughes has said that Deep Sea Oil drilling must be fought on climate change grounds.
Jeanette Fitzsimmons who sacrificed her comfort and safety to go on the flotilla to protest against Andarko off the Raglan coast, said she did so to specifically to raise the issue of climate change.
It is on climate change grounds that Deep Sea Oil drilling is indefensible. There is no moral ethical or logical argument that can be mounted by the Prime Minister or anyone else to justify the exploitation of unconventional sources of oil, like Deep Sea Oil Drilling
To support or even consider supporting Deep Sea Oil Drilling makes John Key, David Cunliffe and Russell Norman either members, or prospects, of the Planet Roasters, prepared to put the world on the spit to satisfy their own selfish gratification and lust for power and wealth, with no concern for the suffering that their actions will bring to future generations.
Well stated, Jenny. Thank you for taking the time to make such a well-thought-out comment!