This dominion post opinion piece (which I thought was a great piece in what is usually an utterly crap paper)draws a comparison between events in germany when facists began taking power and dismantling democracy and the recent events in Christchurch, where elected Christchurch councilors have been fired by the government and replaced by the governments diary industry cronies which will rubber stamp consent applications for diary farms which lead to huge pollution and water degradation.
The link is obviously a bit tenuous. But the fact that our government now feels bold enough to replace elected representatives is shocking- and something we should all sit up and take notice of, at the very least.
Whats next for the national party after replacing elected representatives with big business officials???
Hi Mia, I was looking through today's Dom post trying to find this article, is it the one on A5 or is somewhere else? Could you please point me in the right direction?
ReplyDeleteWill, click on the post title- it will take you to the article.
ReplyDeleteChris Trotter should know better, I reckon the quickest way to discredit your argument is to draw unjustifiable parallels with NAZI’s, it makes you sound hysterical. This is particularly annoying when what he is saying is so important. Canterbury has a very delicate environment, the water table is low and getting lower, it experiences frequent droughts, the rivers are a mess, yet John Key wants to “remove particular regulatory roadblocks to water storage and irrigation in Canterbury”.
ReplyDeleteHe is nuts. At best we will get a short term increase in dairy profits followed by polluted drinking water, shrinking rivers and increased vulnerability in times of drought. At worst the water will be screwed before anyone can make any real money from it.
The point of environmental regulatory bodies is to prevent this or at least attempt to lessen the detrimental effects of farming by considering environmental concerns. Knowing where National’s interests lie, it would be very surprising if this newly appointed commission fulfilled this function.
Apart from environmental concerns there are three disturbing (and more topically related) elements to the firing of Environment Canterbury
1/ Nick Smiths brother was (before it was disbanded) Facing 21 charge from ECan
2/ Agriculture minister David Carter’s farms would benefit from new regulatory framework
3/ Nick Smith (Minister for the environment) reportedly said that voters in Canterbury could not be trusted to make the right decision in the local body elections in Oct.
Though I would not go so far as Trotter, this is clearly not a great moment for democracy in NZ.
I agree that drawing on the NAZIS fighting communist in the street is a bit extreme, although I see the point he is trying to make, all I think of when reading this is would he chill out we aren't extremist in NZ.
ReplyDeleteGeoff, to say 'chill out' because we're not extremist in NZ is to trivialise this matter. It could be argued that the reason that NZ has thankfully had a lack of extremists groups is that our societal framwork, electoral system etc. has been conducive to manuy people having their views heard and consisdered. Breaking with this tradition in the farcical dimissal of ECan isn't the same as the NAZIs gaining power, but is a dangerous affront to democratic traditions in NZ.
ReplyDeleteDrawing parallels between the rise of Fascism and ECan is going out on a limb although it is useful to illustrate that the appointment of the ECan board has been far from a democratic fair process. I also agree that the environmental situation in the greater Canterbury region is a delicate one. Is this not more the reason why there should be elected representatives on the Board (who may consist of farmers or others involved in the agriculture industry or even locals who have been in the area for an extended period of time).
ReplyDeleteThe implementation of a managment body to regulate and manage such a vital resource is definitely non democratic.