Post by Kiwi Frontline on May 4, 2019 7:32:13 GMT 12
Fiona Mackenzie: WHO’S PROTECTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST?
“We are one,” Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern repeatedly told New Zealanders after the horrific Christchurch massacre. But are we really? We all share a love for this wonderful country with its democratic rights and freedoms. However, with the separatist ideology now prevalent in most political parties, the bureaucracy and public services, we are certainly not being governed as one people and democracy is being undermined.
Increasingly, local bodies and successive governments have been transferring responsibilities for control of resources that we all use and cherish to unelected, unaccountable representatives of tribal groups. There appear to be no objectives for them to be measured against and no prescribed way of removing them if they fail to deliver good outcomes for everyone.
The Hauraki Gulf is a prime example of where it’s happening. It is a treasure to all but has been managed under a statutory but rather dysfunctional co-governing body (the Hauraki Gulf Forum) since 2000. The Forum is comprised of government departmental members (Conservation, Fisheries and Te Puni Kokiri), elected Council representatives and iwi appointees. They have declined requests to video proceedings, but witnesses have reported bullying and inflammatory comments promoting tribal control of the Gulf.
With the Forum trying to come up with a spatial plan since 2013, a “Stakeholder Working Group” took the project over. They say its members’ backgrounds included mana whenua, environmental, conservation, fishing, boating, aquaculture and land use. The Group has produced the “aspirational document” explained below. With no media coverage and only select consultation, most people are unaware of the possible consequences of this plan.
But it gets even more complicated. Our use and enjoyment of the seas, harbours and land catchments in the Auckland, Coromandel and Waikato regions (see map) are actually being threatened on three fronts:.....
Continue reading Fiona’s article here > www.nzcpr.com/whos-protecting-the-public-interest/#more-29162
“We are one,” Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern repeatedly told New Zealanders after the horrific Christchurch massacre. But are we really? We all share a love for this wonderful country with its democratic rights and freedoms. However, with the separatist ideology now prevalent in most political parties, the bureaucracy and public services, we are certainly not being governed as one people and democracy is being undermined.
Increasingly, local bodies and successive governments have been transferring responsibilities for control of resources that we all use and cherish to unelected, unaccountable representatives of tribal groups. There appear to be no objectives for them to be measured against and no prescribed way of removing them if they fail to deliver good outcomes for everyone.
The Hauraki Gulf is a prime example of where it’s happening. It is a treasure to all but has been managed under a statutory but rather dysfunctional co-governing body (the Hauraki Gulf Forum) since 2000. The Forum is comprised of government departmental members (Conservation, Fisheries and Te Puni Kokiri), elected Council representatives and iwi appointees. They have declined requests to video proceedings, but witnesses have reported bullying and inflammatory comments promoting tribal control of the Gulf.
With the Forum trying to come up with a spatial plan since 2013, a “Stakeholder Working Group” took the project over. They say its members’ backgrounds included mana whenua, environmental, conservation, fishing, boating, aquaculture and land use. The Group has produced the “aspirational document” explained below. With no media coverage and only select consultation, most people are unaware of the possible consequences of this plan.
But it gets even more complicated. Our use and enjoyment of the seas, harbours and land catchments in the Auckland, Coromandel and Waikato regions (see map) are actually being threatened on three fronts:.....
Continue reading Fiona’s article here > www.nzcpr.com/whos-protecting-the-public-interest/#more-29162