When Christopher Luxon arose from his bed this morning he would not have dreamed Maureen Pugh would overshadow his first big day back at Parliament for the year.
Likely Pugh didn't either, but things can turn on a dime — or a sentence — in politics.
The first question was relatively benign — did she believe climate change made Cyclone Gabrielle worse than it would have otherwise been?
The answer was odd — a comment about how damage in Auckland had been caused by people not able to "prune and manage trees". Odd, but not enough to inspire headlines.
Then: Did she believe in man-made climate change?
Pugh never outright said no, but she perpetuated the lines trotted out via pseudo-science, proliferated through social media - climate change has been going on for millions of years. And she hadn't seen evidence of man-made climate change, but was waiting for — quite specifically — Climate Change Minister James Shaw to provide her with the evidence.
That's the tectonic shift. The science is settled. Man-made — anthropogenic — climate change is a real phenomenon. The climate does change over millennia, but it has changed drastically since the 1800s, and the reason for that is greenhouse gas emissions produced by humans.
While politics is a contest of ideas, and a broad range of views should be welcome, saying (or implying) man-made climate change isn't proven isn't an opinion. There is a wealth of information available — especially to someone as privileged as a member of parliament. They have a responsibility to educate themselves.
This is not cancel culture by the way. People — and especially politicians — should always be responsible and accountable for what they say.
Climate change has been ignored, spun and denied for decades. If it hadn't been, the planet would not be 1.1 degrees warmer than it was in the late 1800s. That warming contributes to the intensity and frequency of destructive storms which threaten life and livelihood.
In the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, it's a slap in the face to those mopping up after it right now.
Pugh's reluctance to say clearly she didn't believe in man-made climate change suggested she knew it was a controversial and potentially politically unpalatable position.
And if that is the case — why say it?
Today was a big day for Labour and National. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins gave the prime minister's statement in the House, and Luxon's big ship-launching opportunity followed, as his reply in the debate.
But that was overshadowed by a lone list MP in a corridor in Parliament who hasn't done the most basic level of reading on climate change.
Pugh later retracted her comments, clutching a white piece of paper on the tiles at Parliament and reading it word for word.
There's a bouquet to the other National MPs however — you could scarcely find another who was willing to defend Pugh's views. And, notably, Gerry Brownlee has clearly changed his position since 2013, when he was criticised for a similar faux pas. So one can always educate themselves, it seems.
But the damage was done, and instead of Luxon's first major chance of the year to look like a prime minister in waiting, the country was discussing the anti-science views of a list MP.
If you were Luxon, it's about enough to make you want to go back to bed.
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