Peter Allan Williams
Writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines although verbalising thoughts on www.reality check.radio three days a week
peterallanwilliams.substack.com
There’s something very sinister going on at the Ministry for the Environment.
Quite possibly with encouragement from Minister David Parker’s office, the Ministry has tried to get organisations like Federated Farmers, and other NGOs, non-governmental organisations, to take part in planning, resource management and freshwater management processes in the weeks before the election.
This would mean the NGOs would have to use the recently passed Three Waters and resource management legislation before the election and therefore make that legislation difficult to repeal after the election, as National and ACT have promised to do.
But here’s the rub. If Federated Farmers, and presumably other NGOs like Fish and Game and the Environmental Defence Society and possibly Greenpeace were to start a resource management process under the new legislation, the Ministry would pay them $600,000.
Can you believe that? Only five weeks before an election which the government has every chance of losing, a government Ministry is offering what is in essence a bribe to start a process which would invoke the new legislation.
Federated Farmers submitted strongly against the Resource Management Act replacement, the Natural and Built Environments Act. They were the first group in front of the Select Committee, told them the bill was not fit for purpose and should be thrown out.
The government used its majority to nevertheless push through a massive piece of legislation which is five years in the making but is so complicated even the Chief Justice warned the Select Committee about its convolutions and that it introduced concepts which could take years to properly define through lengthy court cases.
But the very stubborn David Parker pushed on determinedly, and the Natural and Built Environments Act, all 1300 pages of it, received Royal Assent on August 23rd.
Federated Farmers don’t know what the other NGOs are doing about the offer they would have received but the Feds were unequivocal. They told the Ministry they did not think it was appropriate for the taxpayer to be funding a Federated Farmers process only weeks before an election.
The Feds told the Ministry they didn’t want the $600,000 and that they would go public about the offer.
So they have.
It is absolutely despicable and irresponsible behaviour from a government Ministry at any time. To do it at this stage of the election cycle just beggars belief.