New Zealand environmental policy in the Key era: Escalating crises in a time of neo-liberal economic dominance

Abstract

Since 2008, over three terms of а National Party-led government, the environment went from being an issue that barely registered with the electorate to becoming perhaps the dominant issue of the 2017 election. The past nine years witnessed а dramatic escalation of environmental problems across New Zealand, with issues as wide-ranging as water quality, waste management, biodiversity loss and climate change receiving prominent attention in the public arena. Such perceptions of deepening environmental damage in recent years have scarred the 'clean, green and 100% pure' image that New Zealand has assiduously cultivated over the last few decades.