Op-ed: Former UNICEF 2023 Young Ambassador, Thomas Blakie on the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill

Despite vast public opposition and no agreement from the Select Committee, the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill is expected to pass its Third Reading early in 2025, cementing this Government’s decision to reopen climate-damaging oil and gas exploration. 

Rushed to Select Committee under urgency, the public was given three working days to provide input into the Bill. UNICEF Aotearoa was then one of the few contributing organisations given the opportunity to provide an oral submission and the report was quietly released. Even under these conditions, the public opposition was undeniable. 

Young people are leading the charge for climate action in Aotearoa. We have protested, petitioned and are reshaping our lives in response to an urgent need for a more sustainable future. Yet, when it comes to decisions like the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill, decisions that directly impact our futures, our voices have been shut out.  

The government is ignoring young people’s demands and its own obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which New Zealand has been bound to for over 30 years. By shutting out the very people who will live with the consequences, this Bill undermines the Government’s duty to act in the best interests of the child. 

Global experts from the IPCC to the International Energy Agency have made it abundantly clear. We must pivot away from fossil fuel generation. Opening new fossil fuel projects locks us into a dramatically hotter future that will jeopardise the lives of today’s children and future generations. This Bill isn’t just a technical misstep, it is a betrayal.  

The impacts of this are not hypothetical. A UNICEF report recently highlighted that children, particularly in vulnerable communities, are disproportionately affected by climate change. Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental hazards because of an “interplay of physiological, psychosocial, and behavioural factors,” the report says. Reversing the ban on fossil fuel exploration disregards children’s right to a safe environment, exposing them to higher cumulative emissions and escalating climate risks. 

New Zealand endorsed the Pact for the Future and the Declaration for Future Generations at the UN Summit for the Future in New York last month, promising on the world stage to accelerate our climate action and strengthen our international cooperation. But the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill tells a different story. This story drowns our global credibility, dismisses those promises and disregards our Pacific neighbours who are fighting for survival against rising seas. 

As young people, we are not just the leaders of tomorrow; we are leading today. Young people know what’s at stake. We are deeply invested in designing our futures. Intergenerationally fair futures, where we never shift our problems - not onto our neighbours, nor onto future generations. Mo tātou, ā, mo kā uri ā muri ake nei – For us, and our children after us. But to get there, we need our elected representatives to do their part.  

To truly act in the best interests of future generations, our government must listen to our voices, honour its global commitments, and withdraw this Bill. We must safeguard a livable planet for every child. Anything less is a failure of responsibility that our generation and generations to come will pay for.