How To Prepare For Climate Change - No, Not Like This
Going Under, Not Together - New Zealand’s Soggy Social Contract
Picture this - It’s 2046. The sea has crept inland like a burglar with a wet grudge. A grandmother in Westport clutches her mokopuna as the water laps at her lounge suite, only to be told by officials in branded gumboots, “Sorry, love. Your floodplain lifestyle is your personal choice.”
Welcome to the future envisioned by the Independent Reference Group on Climate Adaptation, where the policy response to climate collapse is essentially - “Have you tried not living there?”
Their latest offering, a masterclass in political cowardice wrapped in the language of fiscal responsibility, boldly suggests that after 2045, the government should stop all property buyouts for climate-related disasters. That’s right. No matter how screwed you are, how ruined your community becomes, or how soaked your mortgage gets, you’re on your own. But don’t worry! They suggest you may be eligible for a hardship grant from MSD. Maybe. If you survive the paperwork and the next king tide.
This isn’t adaptation. It’s abandonment with a press release.
The justification? Threefold -
Buyouts will be unaffordable. (Translation - “We’d rather save the money for tax cuts.”)
Buyouts are unfair. (Translation - “Helping flood victims might offend someone in Queenstown.”)
Buyouts create moral hazard. (Translation - “We don’t trust you not to live next to a swamp.”)
What’s missing? Oh, just little things like -
Intergenerational justice
Collective responsibility
Risk solidarity
The entire concept of a society
The very idea that we should allow people to live in collapsing zones but offer them no pathway out is not just callous, it’s logistically idiotic. Who coordinates infrastructure investment when entire neighbourhoods become uninsurable? Who foots the bill when emergency rescues ramp up, or when mental health and employment needs spiral?
If the report’s recommendations are adopted, we may well see the rise of climate red zones - ghost towns with soggy letterboxes and banner headlines reading, “You Were Warned.”
All this from a government that claims it’s planning for the future. The only future they seem to be planning for is an archipelago of misery, where the poor drown first and the wealthy relocate to the high ground, literal and political.
🧻 Government Press Release
Title: “Empowering Resilience: A Forward-Looking Framework for Climate Choice”
Issued by: Ministry for Strategic Retreats and Fiscal Realignment
In a bold and visionary move to foster individual responsibility and climate courage, the Government has embraced the Independent Reference Group’s recommendations to conclude state-sponsored climate-related property buyouts by 2045.
Minister for Adaptation Avoidance, Hon. Kendall Slade, said -
“We believe in empowering New Zealanders to make their own climate decisions. By ending buyouts, we encourage Kiwis to take ownership of their location-related choices, be it beachfront or bogland.”
The Minister confirmed that MSD would be equipped with upgraded pamphlets to support those whose homes are claimed by the sea.
“This is not about abandonment. It’s about fiscal discipline, risk alignment and incentivising geographic discernment.”
The Government also confirmed that emergency rescue services would remain available to those “who still insist on living in puddles.”
✉️ Letter to the Editor – Westport Citizens’ Collective
To the Editor,
The Government’s refusal to commit to property buyouts post-2045 is not policy, it’s punishment. We live here not for the thrill of floodwater, but because this is our whakapapa, our whenua, our home.
After years of promises about resilience, we’re told that the future is “personal responsibility.” Tell that to our kids wading through sewage after each storm. Tell that to our kaumātua losing sleep as their floors buckle beneath them.
No one buys a house thinking it will one day float. Yet here we are, treated like liabilities instead of citizens.
We ask New Zealanders - will you stand with us, or wait until it’s your suburb on the waterline?
Mere Roberts,
Chair, Westport Citizens’ Collective
✉️ Letter to the Editor – Individual
To the Editor,
I’m a solo mum. My house was red-stickered after the last cyclone. Insurance refused to renew, the bank won’t refinance and now the government wants me to just - cope?
I didn’t cause climate change. I didn’t vote to build subdivisions on swamps. And I sure as hell didn’t get asked whether I wanted my home turned into a test case for “market discipline.”
I work, I pay taxes, I raise my kids, but apparently, I don’t matter enough to save.
This isn’t climate policy. It’s bureaucratic euthanasia.
Leilani T.,
Napier
📞 Phone +64 275 665 682
✉️ Email john.luxton@regenerationhq.co.nz
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