State of the Nation’s Environment Address at Lincoln University
Land slips in Tairāwhiti after Cyclone Gabrielle
The Commissioner marked 50 years of environmental studies at Lincoln University in November 2025 by giving an address on “What we don’t know about the state of New Zealand’s environment – and does it matter?”
He opened with an acknowledgement of Helen Hughes, the very first Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (1987–96), who was one of the first two people awarded honorary doctorates by the newly independent Lincoln University in 1993.
The Commissioner’s address queried “why is environmental information important?” and outlined that what you don’t know can:
- really hurt you
- prove to be expensive
- make a mockery of regulatory systems, and
- prevent us from understanding whether we are making a difference.
He also referenced the need to maintain New Zealand’s publicly funded environmental research capability, currently undergoing reform.
“Environmental information and the research base needed should be treated as core assets. This is ‘infrastructure’ that enables better decisions. We need to invest in it every bit as much as we need to invest in hard infrastructure.”