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Saturday, June 26, 2010

Speech to the assembled marchers in Wachner Place

I find it astonishing that any government would ignore the well-being of it’s people in the way this government is doing right now.

I find it appalling that our so-called leaders in the National Party, the Act Party and the Maori Party would take from the people of New Zealand the precious, shared resources that are our national parks and offer them up to foreign mining companies.

It’s extraordinarily short-sighted, undemocratic behaviour from the present government that disrespects the work of previous forward-thinking governments that set aside and secured the jewels in our environmental crown, our national parks for perpetuity, for our grandchildren and for theirs.

This ‘cash it in now’, ‘take the money and run’ National government should be hanging it’s head in shame for what it is trying to do, but no! The Minister for Mining shows no contrition, declaring people like you and me ‘hysterical’ and ‘ill-informed’.

We are neither. We are ordinary New Zealanders who know that what has been declared protected, should stay protected.

A national park is not an industrial complex or an item to be traded, divvied-up, dug-up and mined.

We all know that the empty promises we hear from Mr ‘Sexy Coal’ Gerry Brownlee are not worth the post card they are written on. The mining he is planning is not surgical but terminal, not clean but mean.

A deal is a deal and governments of the past made a deal with the people of New Zealand NOT to mine the national parks.

These profit-hungry anti-environment, pull-the-wool-over-our-eyes politicians who jump to the tune of their big business buddies would break that deal as quickly as you could say ‘dig baby dig’!

The only way to stay their pick-wielding hand is to do what we’ve done today - give them the message, the thumbs down, the raised fist, the finger if need be, until they understand that New Zealanders don’t like to be conned.

We don’t want the rug pulled out from under our feet, our national parks dug up, our real, sustainable wealth sold off and the profits gathered in by the greedy and the exploitive.

It doesn’t matter how often National says ‘surgical mining’, ‘clean coal’, ‘restored landscapes’ or ‘catching up with Australia’s economy’, what they are trying to do is break a bond, renege on a promise, steal from our children.

This agreement to create and protect national parks for all was made in good faith and this government seeks to break that.

Let’s not allow them to do that.



Let’s hold them to account.



Let’s say a loud and clear NO to mining the national parks.

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