A climate activist for a climate election

8 March 2023: Seasoned climate activist and West Auckland local Steve Abel has been selected by the Green
Party of Aotearoa New Zealand to run for the New Lynn electorate in West Auckland.

An electorate that includes parts of Tāmaki Makaurau most affected by the recent climate-fuelled
flooding and cyclone, where many homes have been red-stickered.

“Action on climate change rates among the top concerns for people, and rightly so.”

“Here in West Auckland, couches and beds are piled on berms, and houses are being
condemned. The suffering and destruction communities are experiencing requires politicians who
have the courage to effect real change. That means some clear choices for voters,” says Abel.

“The Greens have long championed the need for cutting climate pollution, and building a resilient
society that will save lives and our planet,” he says.

With the prospect of an election firmly focused on climate, Abel brings a wealth of campaigning
experience and know-how to the Greens.

Steve Abel, who describes himself as a practical radical, has a fearsome 25-year resume of
successful environmental activism.

Abel was part of campaigns which brought an end to native logging in 1999; stopped Marsden B
coal-fired power station in 2008; and, as lead campaigner, then political strategist, helped win
Greenpeace’s seven-year struggle in 2018 against new offshore oil and gas exploration, in alliance
with iwi and hapū throughout New Zealand.

“National Leader Chris Luxon’s promise to bring back deep-sea oil and gas drilling in our coastal
waters is antithetical to climate action and is something we Greens stand against with every fibre
of our bodies,” says Abel.

Steve Abel has also been accepted into the pool for Green Party list selection. This follows from
the 2020 election where he was ranked 11 on the Green Party list, just missing out on entering
parliament. When he stood in New Lynn in 2020, Abel’s West team boosted Party vote support in
New Lynn by five percentage points up to 11.4%.

Steve Abel is part of urban tree protection group Mana Rākau and in recent years has
championed the right of rural people to have access to safe drinking water, working with scientists to lead free water testing events in rural areas contaminated by nitrate from intensive dairying.

“Everyone should have access to safe drinking water, but that right is being stolen from regions,
crammed with too many dairy cows, and doused with synthetic nitrogen fertiliser,” says Abel.

He is convinced that changing the way we farm is essential to making New Zealand a resilient and
liveable land, “If we are not truly transforming agriculture, then we cannot say we are serious
about combating climate change or protecting our environment, and our people,” he says.
“By changing the way we farm to more ecological, regenerative, plant-based models we not only
find solutions to climate change but protect our rivers, lakes and drinking water from
contamination by intensive dairying,” he says.

Steve Abel strongly believes that upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi, social justice, and
environmental integrity are all essential to achieving a viable society and liveable planet.
“What motivates me is the vision of an Aotearoa, where the solutions to issues like climate change
and poverty, go hand in hand with upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I believe we can usher in a more
inclusive and resilient nation, able to both lessen and withstand the climate storms to come,” says
Abel.

ENDS
CONTACT: Steve Abel 021 927 301
Authorised by: Miriam Ross, Level 5, 108 The Terrace, Wellington.