Smashing democracy

Unbelievable! The Government's justification for refusing to allow democratic local body elections in Canterbury is that the voters might chose a balance between rural and urban councillors!
It's eye-wateringly, head-shakingly wrong to behave this way, but they have. NoRightTurn posts on the  statements by David Carter to the Law Society and has a similar reaction to mine. Not disbelief, because it's not outside of what I believe the way this National Government behaves, but there's a whiff of disgust in his post, it seems to me.

"But the Government says elections this year could potentially produce the same deadlock between rural and urban councillors that created the need for commissioners in the first place.

It says the commissioners' work on freshwater needs to be finished before elections are held.

Local Government Minister David Carter says he did not want the commissioners' unfinished work on water going to a council that may have the same rural-urban balance of power as its predecessor.

Mr Carter is interested in the Law Society's suggestion of a council made up of appointed and elected members, but says that would not happen until at least 2016."

Morgan exposes Carter

"Minister mouthpiece for dirty dairy" declares Gareth Morgan in his expose of the interference by Agriculture minister David Carter in the decisions being made by Horizons Regional Council to control industrial dairying in the central North Island.

"What is astonishing and truly sobering about the Horizons case is the new low it has set for the willingness of Cabinet Ministers to use their position to further the interests of businesses at the expense of the public and to hell with the environment. Federated Farmers’ onslaught on Horizons has been aided and abetted by David Carter, Minister for Primary Industries. As a Cabinet Minister one might think Carter would represent the wider public interest, rather than just the farming lobby. However he has set out to undermine public acceptance of One Plan, claiming that it will “dramatically reduce” the productivity (read profitability) of farming and as a result be harmful to the public. He’s said he’ll get the RMA changed – continuing a string of abuses on environmental protection from National’s senior ministers of late who can’t conceive of economic growth without accompanying environmental destruction. It is a regressive view but one National, faced with a flat economy, is wholeheartedly embracing."

Gareth Morgan is proving a constant thorn in the side for this business-supportive government and repeatedly hits both the nail, and National, on the head with his insightful columns.
Read the rest here.

Federated Farmers need to own their shit

Gareth Morgan chooses a blunt title for his post on Conor English's excuse-making around farm-created pollution.
Morgan says:

"The problem with Conor English is that he stubbornly refuses to answer the charge that Fed Farmers think that it is a birthright for its members to vandalise the environment and smash the rights of others, all for the pursuit of profit."

That's putting it out there, Gareth! Our local Feds are going to be squirming when they read that! Morgan goes on:

" That’s the issue here and as the dairy herd increases from 2 to 4.5 million and ever upwards, this constraint will enforce a change in farming practice. If you want more cows and you’re not allowed to impact the waterways with their presence, then you need to change practices. Connor English does not accept this, he argues farmers should be allowed to raise their pollution in line with their herd size. There is no logic to his lobby group challenging the Environment Court otherwise. Conor’s form of guardianship is not quite the kaitiakitanga that preceded industrial farming."

Mr Morgan sums up the National Government's (I call them the John Key/John Banks Government) position on this with:

" It’s noticeable that National are pulling back from siding with Fish and Game and conservationists challenging Fed Farmers through the Courts on this issue now, and instead are switching sides as the raw reality of rural politics is brought to bear on the Conservation Minister.
This fits with National’s demolition of the ETS, withdrawal from Kyoto and Steven Joyce’s championing of GDP growth founded on continued destruction of natural assets. We truly have stepped back to a conservative, non-progressive government."

And here, in big text, the nub of the issue:

" Let’s repeat it. If Fed Farmers’ view was that you can’t despoil the environment for others in your pursuit of personal gain, it would not be squealing and saying the Environment Court is raising the barrier too high in terms of what pollution is acceptable. No more pollution is acceptable so it doesn’t matter how high the hurdle is."