This comment, relating to the changing of the guard at Environment Southland appeared on one of the most widely read national blogs recently.
Posted October 13, 2010 at 12:10 AM
An interesting element related to Robert’s journey to the council of Environment Southland was the demise of Stuart Collie the retiring Chair. Collie had a confused perception of his role and regularly wrote articles in the Southland Times openly supporting the mining of lignite and promoting the view that protecting the environment should not restrict farming profitability, farming came first! He was most concerned at Guy Salmond’s view that environmentalists and maori should be included on environment councils to balance the interests of farmers. Collie thought that anyone who hadn’t farmed had no place in making decisions regarding rural resources and openly criticized Robert and another candidate for being too biased in their views to make balanced decisions. After retiring from his role as ES chair Stuart Collie needed further employment and stood for the Invercargill City Council. I am hoping it was because of the many letters we wrote to public opinion questioning Collie’s flawed thinking because he was well out of the running and a first time candidate and ex waste buster was elected well ahead of him.
Stuart Collie's disappearance from the local body scene in Southland is a notable one but interestingly, not a single mention of it has been made by the media.
Curious.
6 comments:
Take Stuart Collie
X him by 7
What do you have?
The West Coast Regional Council!
yay.
Perhaps one day I'll meet these esteemed gentlemen Shunda :-)
They might be interested to hear how Stuart fared.
My plans for my big project have been submitted Robert.
I can't believe how nervous I feel waiting for the yay or nay from the powers that be!
Initial reaction was good but the big boss wasn't there, so fingers crossed!!
If given the green light it will be one of the biggest community enhancements ever done here.
That's excellent Shunda!
Can you think of any reason for them not to support it?
You'll be making a name for yourself on the Coast.
Hope no one mistakes you for a tree-hugger!
There may be a few councillors reluctant to fund some of it and perhaps a bit of "old school" thinking could cause some problems, but I am pretty sure these people are outnumbered now.
Tree hugger you say?
I actually have that reputation already (unfortunately?) Robert, I have written a few too many letters over various tree "incidents" that gave it away :).
It's impossible to write too many letters Shunda, especially when they involve trees.
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