'Impressed' PM Jacinda Ardern thanks students for 'fantastic' work

Saturday, 21 July 2018

A group of Marlborough students on a mission to save New Zealand's marine life has impressed the Prime Minister with their passion.

The year 12 and 13 Marlborough Girls' College students wrote to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hoping to update marine legislation, and do away with some of the red tape that had held up similar projects.

'Thank you again for your fantastic work' says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The students said they were thrilled to get a response from Ardern's office, with a special handwritten note at the bottom saying 'Thank you again for your fantastic work'.

The letter also said Ardern was very impressed with their work, and their passion gave her 'hope for the future of New Zealand and the planet'.

Year 12 and 13 students, from left, Stacey Wilkey, Baylee McConaghey, Demi Fearn, Holly Wills, Siobhan Hemingway, Julee Pillans, Hannah Dickson, Oceania McClelland-Petersen want better protection for the Marlborough Sounds.

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The letter was dated June 19, two days before Ardern gave birth to Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford.

They also received letters of support from professors at Waikato and Auckland universities.

But despite the positive response from the PM, the students have decided to change tack, realising their initial plans to cut though the red tape would still take years to see progress.

Last week, students Siobhan Hemingway and Demi Fearn presented a group report to the Marlborough District Council's environment committee.

'Throughout our research we discovered that Kaikōura has a special legislation put in place. Our group, the people of the future are asking the MDC to write to the Government and propose we get a similar legislation put in place to protect the Marlborough Sounds,' they said.

The students wanted to accelerate the process of marine protection, by establishing a Marlborough Sounds Marine Guardians group.

It took many years for Kaikōura to put their legislation together, 'but it's already there for us to copy, change, make our own and implement within Marlborough so we can have our marine protected', Fearn said.

'This would be a much quicker process because we know how bad our Sounds are getting, so it's time that we act upon it,' Hemingway said.

'Guardians are required to run an inclusive public process to identify a range of different marine protected areas within two years, this is a much more straight forward process than waiting for the marine protected areas act to enter legislation,' she said.

Those guardians would be charged with running a marine protected areas process in the Marlborough Sounds, working with community and iwi, the students said.

'We need MDC to make a request to the Government for the special legislation to take place,' they said.

Council coastal scientist Dr Steve Urlich said the Prime Minister must have been touched by the letter to respond with a handwritten note just days before giving birth.

'What they've asked here is quite a novel solution.

'In Kaikōura, there was a collaborative, inclusive process initiated by iwi supported by Department of Conversation that went for seven or eight years.'

But he said the students had flipped 'the whole paradigm on its head' by suggesting council write to Government first.

'This could be a real circuit breaker for the rest of the country.'

Marlborough Marine Futures trustee Eric Jorgensen said he was impressed by the distance the students had gone in a short time.

'You've actually identified some of the real key issues that we have to grapple with, not only in terms of the physical environmental challenges we've got but also … trying to gain the minds of other people to join you on your journey.'

He commended the students for writing to ministers, which was different to the 'bottom up approach' Marine Futures had taken.

'If the two can reconcile, then that's really good.

'I think that more and more we're all in the same waka and we're starting to paddle in the same way and at the same time and it's really positive.

'I would encourage council to pay attention … and take up the challenge,' he said.

Councillor Cynthia Brooks said she was staggered by the thoroughness, confidence and maturity of the students and what they had achieved in such a short time.

'This council is right there with you … many voices, one cause, but what we want is this generational cause as well as this is the really important thing.'

Councillor Gerald Hope said they would try to organise a meeting with the students and Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage when she was in Marlborough next month.

'If you're going to get anywhere, you have to influence the politicians, that's how it works, and these things take a lot of time.'