a canary with a fever

Sometimes the canary in the coalmine dies quickly and at other times it slowly expires. The 93% coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef this year is a bit of both and shows how these extinction events really happen - they are not linear - they don't happen all ordered and knowable - they happen in bursts, in slides and then plateaus and then cliffs and so on. The Great Barrier Reef is a coughing canary and baring aliens and superheroes is likely to be gone within a decade or 4. This bleaching is caused by sea temperature rises and this is contributed to by fossil fuel burning and that is not even close to stopping or even slowing down. Environmental activists know that even as governments sign a global climate change deal in New York to limit global warming by at least two degrees that this is just a minimum response practically worth nothing other than the ability to skite about it, just like our idiot Minister, back in their home countries.

news.com.au

But environmental activists want greater action from the government at home. 

“Australians can see right through the hypocrisy of the government talking about the reef’s health while allowing the mining and burning of coal to go on at unprecedented levels,” Greenpeace Campaigner Nikola Casule said. 

“Our reef is dying before our eyes. We need a credible plan to mitigate climate change and move to a coal-free economy,” he said on Friday. 

This month the Queensland Government gave the go-ahead for Australia’s biggest coal mine, Adani’s Carmichael mine in the Galilee basin. It has been hugely controversial because its potential impacts on the reef due to dredging and increased port movements.

Yep the BIGGEST coal mine - but these same 'people' will weep and gnash when the reef is dead - "Why didn't someone tell us, oh why didn't someone do something". Scum is too good a word for these greedy exploitative bastards.

Reading about the demise of the Great Barrier Reef often, as in nearly every time, leads to the value of the reef and oh how the MONETARY value is placed above and beyond everything. This just makes me sick.

Be in the moment and enjoy the today you are in for the diversity of your experience and the myriad interactions with other living entities that you enjoy. The times are changing and changing fast...

pretend caring and the erosion of indigenous rights

Some observations of the Kermadec Sanctuary proposal.

The opposition is based on the non consultation with Māori and the list of Māori opposed because of that is long, wide and varied. The days of riding rough-shot over tangata whenua are OVER. Māori WILL NOT sit while our rights get trampled and discarded.

The government can bleat on as much as it likes about 'saving the oceans' and 'what the people want' and in the same breath do NOTHING about the biggest most serious issue facing every single human and associated species - Climate Change is here and 'ocean sanctuaries' are a nothing response from a nothing government who sit alongside the other nothing governments around the world - while they all weep bullshit tears about the wee fishes - and continue to eat them no doubt. This is the bullshit hypocrisy of these politicians and other assorted names. They say one thing and do another. They are window dressing without any real care about this world or the people in it - let alone the ecosystems within the ocean. It is fake - believe me, it is fake concern from them.

This is one fight for Māori alongside other fights for the rights relating to water and land. Think about that. Rights agreed to over food, water and land are the big battles Māori are fighting at the moment - and Māori are fighting for these rights to be upheld for EVERYONE - so they don't get sold to corporates for profit, so they are available for all.

We will fight for as long as we need to, we will not stop fighting - not while the greedy, exploitative, corporate capitalists are there working with their mates in Parliament to take everything of value from all of us. No, the fight will continue.

Disclaimer - personally I'd stop a lot of fishing and other corporate food making and concentrate energies into sustainability and community. So I like sanctuaries everywhere and all over the place. But this is not about a sanctuary it is about indigenous rights and the ability of governments to disregard them whenever they want - no more will this happen - the lines are drawn and the lines are set.

ANG Press release

ABORIGINAL NEWS GROUP STATEMENT ON THE #MI'KMAQ / #ELSIPOGTOG CRISIS

A Communiqué from the ANG Public Information Bureau:

To the Sovereign People of the Independent Mi'kmaq Nation
To all Colonialised Peoples of the Fourth World

The Aboriginal News Group (ANG) wishes to extend its support and solidarity to the Indigenous warriors standing strong  in defence of Mi'kmaq / Elsipogtog territorial and human rights under Canadian occupation and against the unwanted exploitation of their lands. We recognise their peaceful protest as part of the international struggle in defiance of intentional acts of genocide undertaken against Indigenous / First Nations Peoples throughout the Fourth World and within the occupied territories of North America.

Clearly, the 'Indian Wars' are not over.

Aboriginal rights defenders and concerned residents who have taken non-violent, community control over a roadway that crosses through their Nation in protest of an environmental wipeout of Indigenous land were viciously attacked by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) state security forces employing fear tactics; rubber bullets and tear gas aimed against unarmed Indigenous Peoples on their own territory. Unnecessary mass arrests of prominent protesters and and the seizing of personal computers and recording devices against (seemingly) targeted members of the independent media has also occurred.

This is not democracy. Nor is it benevolent colonialism.

This is genocide under the provisions of the 'Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide' : (Resolution 260 (III) A of the U.N. General Assembly on 9 December 1948)

And Canada (the 'Peaceful Country') is in blatant violation of these very basic human rights.

We have all watched (mostly in silence) how the Canadian tradition of colonialist exploitation and xenophobic self-centred  importance has resulted in the mass liquidation of millions of First Nations Peoples, legal and extra-legal racial segregation; punishing residential 'de-Indianising' schools; mass incarceration; widespread communal depression and the institution of socio-politically isolated Bantustans designed to rob Indigenous Peoples of our lands, our rights and our very dignity.

This is the basic formula of genocide.

The unapologetic use of state-sponsored violence, social coercion and subvert; psychological repression of speech; cultural and political expression in order to prevent the development of a viable, pan-Indigenous consciousness. In other words, the actions undertaken at Elsipogtog by state authorities is intended to marginalise the autochthonous Mi'kmaq Nation as a sociopolitical entity within Canada by way of force.

This is genocide.

The destruction of the Indigenous population of North America is not new news to the people of the First Nations. We continue to wage the struggle for Indigenous survival through the persistence of our resistance. The racist, enforced displacement and economic exploitation of modern First Nations Peoples, the unpeaceful dispossession of Indigenous lands and the right to protest colonialism are critical issues for all Original Peoples of the Fourth World facing extinction in the name of European and capitalist expansion.

Respect Indigenous Mi’kmaq Human and Territorial Rights!

We applaud the Mi’kmaq Warrior Society and all Original Peoples of the Fourth World courageously and intelligently resisting colonialism and Indigenous genocide.



- Editors of the Aboriginal News Group.

spider webs and choices

spider webs, political games - so similar. We have Banks resigning his portfolios and going to court and I have to say that I quite like the photos of him in the dock - bad I know. We have the brownsexscandal in Auckland - the spiders have woven difficult webs around the truth of what has happened there and what the end games of the participants are. Labour are surging up the polls and it has been so good to hear Cunliffe lead - he is really shining and doing well and this bodes well for the left and Mana. We had the simon bridges clown act on Campbell's show - and bridges made a fool of himself by defending the indefensible and fully aligning himself with the exploiters who are and will be fracking and drilling as soon as they can - if we let them that is. I'm afraid we are coming to a crossroads where will have to make some hard choices - choices about who we are and what we believe in. We can't let their drilling plans go ahead - it's as simple as that really. We will have to do what people like this are doing, we will have to set up barricades and lay our bodies on the line a bit. We have done it before during the Tour and we can do it again.

Hattips : The Standard

look over here not over there

A revealing article on Stuff about Tikorangi – ” the most heavily explored and developed oil and gas area in New Zealand”

key spoke to 100 in Inglewood

“On Thursday he told an audience that the amount of wealth that exploration could release meant it was in everyones best interests to build respectful relationships with the oil companies.”

No key it is not in everyones best interest just the greedy and money-hungry exploiters best interest.

On Tuesday the council’s request to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment that urban areas and land near New Plymouth Airport to be excluded from future oil exploration was turned down flat.

Yes they will be drilling near where people live and the effects of that are serious

Greymouth has stated it is drilling just one well but has applied to drill eight. It has also bought 30 hectares of land despite only needing 1.4ha.

Any assurances from them are worthless when the truth is obvious

Like so many other media-shy companies, Greymouth requires questions in writing which are answered in kind.

Just like Key - what a surprise, not.

Todd Energy, the other big player in Tikorangi oil and gas and operator of the massive Mangahewa C production site, has started issuing full-colour community updates.
Featuring pictures of smiling rig workers and the top-echelon management team casually splayed out on a grass bank at Womad…

Manipulation is easier when it comes in a nice glossy full colour update

“The fact of the matter is the easy oil is gone, and now exploration is being brought closer to humans,” Todd Energy operations general manager Mr Clennett says.
“Our main focus is how we can build a sustainable operation within the community. Because the skills we are building here, we want to be able to use in other places."

Easy oil is gone and fracking and other destructive practices are just kicking on and they will be used here and in other places as desperation grows.

Mr Clennett’s frankness, the printed updates, the millions in funding to the Len Lye Centre and support for other community projects have another bottom-line benefit for Todd. In a world market scrapping over a limited supply of oil and gas experts, reputation is money.

key and these companies are singing from the same songsheet and they are raising their voices in a cacophony of manipulation designed to drown out opposition to their exploitation, but it won’t work because they ignore people.

“This doesn’t feel like home anymore,” he told his parents Clare and Alan.
“The noise. The rigs. The powerlines. All the lights. It’s taken away the night sky. It’s pretty sad really.”

Expect plenty of glossy brochures and smiling pictures to come because that is all they have got to counter the truth of their activities.

exposed throats

Gordon Campbell at Werewolf has written a significant article on one of the exploiter companies who will be drilling around this country. I recommend this article, here is a snippet

Werewolf

In the light of such findings, concern about Anadarko’s activities off the New Zealand coast seems utterly reasonable. Similar concerns seem appropriate about New Zealand’s ability to monitor Anadarko’s operations here, and to respond adequately should a major spill occur off our coastline. Much is being taken on trust, with crossed fingers that it won’t happen here. And that’s before mentioning our capacity to reliably monitor any subsequent uptake from the wells drilled, and our ability to negotiate a fair royalties rate truly commensurate with the value of the deposits, and the risks being undertaken. On all such counts, there are serious grounds for objecting to Anadarko’s activities off our coastline – and given the troubling aspects of the company’s recent environmental record, there is no valid reason for criminalizing those who might wish to protest its presence here. 

It is interesting to note that

Barely a week before our last general election in November 2011, Prime Minister John Key found time to divert from his busy campaign schedule for a meeting back in Wellington – purpose unknown – with Anadarko’s then-CEO, James Hackett.

The Werewolf article shows very clearly the type of corporate animal that these exploiters are - they don't care about the people they poison, they don't care about the environment, safety or the law - they care about profits and making money. By inviting these predators into this country we are offering our throats to the worst of humanity. The question isn't if a disaster will happen it is just when it will happen and the politicians who have colluded with these corporates will be held to account where ever they are, even Key in his holiday home in Hawaii.

planning to exploit

The government are ramping up the oil exploitation and have recently made an area the size of Te Waipounamu available for this, that is a total of 1,500 square kilometres of onshore exploration territory and 190,000 sq kms of offshore territory. When you look at the map of these areas being opened up you can really see how big their plans are. 

Prime minister key has said that he thinks the regulations will keep the cowboys out and Economic Development Minister steven joyce has said that the poorest regions of this country, the 'backwater regions' should rethink their opposition to mining and get on board because it will boost economic growth. Well firstly key is a liar and cannot be trusted so anything he says must be taken with many grains of salt - gives us something to rub into the wounds and as for joyce, I'm afraid he is cut from the same cloth - cannot be trusted and he proves this with his myopic focus on the mythical benefits of growth. This government is only concerned with making more money for them and their mates - do not be under any illusion - and the absurd aspect is that the potential growth is just that, potential and not even likely, just made up numbers that bolster the exploitation and potentially increase the profits of the international mining companies.

The opposition to these moves will need to remain focused to stop them and we must stop them because as shell says it would take 14 days to cap a major oil leak but remember the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico  took 87 days to contain and the Montara oil spill and gas leak in the Timor Sea, off the northern coast of Western Australia took 74 days to contain so those assurances mean little, they are just dreams and hopes. My dream and hope is that tangata whenua with like-minded people will work together to halt their plans.

We will not listen to their bland promises of growth or environmental protection, we will fight them all the way. I look at that map and see how close to Farewell Spit Nature Reserve they will drill and I am very concerned, very concerned indeed because that beautiful, important area will not be able to take 70 days of oil spewing near it. The only way to ensure protection of Onetahua is to make sure they are not able to begin.

killing me softly with his song

This post covers a range of areas that are interrelated and they are: the adequacy of consultation with Māori and how the current system is another divide and conquer strategy from the Government with a direct whakapapa to past practices designed to alienate land from Māori. It also looks at the proposed exploration process for vast tracts of lands currently in process and adds in the massive job losses at Department of Conservation who manage one third of this country's land.

One very disturbing aspect of the recent Supreme Court decision dismissing the appeal on the Māori Councils bid to halt the sale of Mighty River Power was their acceptance that the Government had adequately consulted with Māori. The actual consultation process was woefully inadequate and a total smokescreen and it reminded me of the way previous Governments used to pretend that Māori were consulted with. The approach is a derivative of the divide and conquer ideal so loved by oppressive regimes and is still being used willy-nilly by the Government to advance its agenda to sell off and exploit the land..

Carwyn Jones wrote about the Supreme Court decision and said

I accept that the technical requirement of consultation may have been met, and therefore understand the Supreme Court’s decision on this point.  However, what this does suggest to me is that bare requirements of consultation are not likely to be of much help to Māori when it comes to issues such as this.

Recently Tangatawhenua.com has said this about the exploration permits to advance proposed mining of a very large area of land

Please panui far and wide, because if past or present ‘consultation’ is anything to go by the whanau, hapu and iwi probably won’t ever hear about it, it’ll be quiet meetings behind closed doors with Crown picked and preferred representatives

This proposed mining covers

permits to explore for metallic minerals over 8,261.09 sq km of prospective land in the Taupo Volcanic Zone in the central North Island.

The tract stretches from Lake Taupo to Tauranga, encompassing Tokoroa, and stopping just short of Whakatane.

"This process will ensure exploration permits are granted to the best operator(s) capable of delivering safe and environmentally responsible exploration programmes and will maximise the return to New Zealand from this valuable resource.

and they love putting in the consultation aspect

"At this stage, we are seeking input from iwi, hapū and councils in the area, to identify areas of particular sensitivity."

It is worth considering how the Government in the past alienated Māori land – this is one way they did it.

The Native Lands Act 1865 was a major mechanism used by the Government to alienate Māori lands but how did it actually work. The preamble gives a direct answer to the purposes of the Act where it says the Act was, “to encourage the extinction of such propriety customs and to provide for the conversion of such modes of ownership into titles derived from the Crown”. 

Section 48 barred all other interests in the land except those interests named in the title and this was devastating to the previous ownership model used by Māori. Section 23 authorised the Court to issue certificates of title but only 10 persons could be named and if the land did not exceed 5000 acres then the title could not be issued to a tribe, but in practice this issuing of 10 persons was applied to all blocks of land even if they exceeded 5000 acres. These 10 people had full legal authority as tenants in common which meant that if someone died their interests did not pass to their heirs but rather to the other co-owners of the land. 

So many hundreds of owners were cut out of their land by these provisions; they were alienated in favour of the 10 named persons. Furthermore only evidence presented in court was considered in any dispute over the ownership. Once notification was made interested parties had to be personally present to lay their evidence down and if they didn’t see the notice, were sick or unable to travel to the court, their rights, even though known by the judges, were discarded and not even considered. 

Often many presumptive owners did not even hear about the court date until after the period allowed for appeals had expired. 

Customary right-holders were forced into the Native Court Hearing if one of the 10 individual claimants created an application, other presumptive owners were not given notice, the Court refused to consider anything other than the evidence of those present at the hearing. The Treaty made rangatira absolute owners of their land and this Court process took away the trusteeship, kaitiakitanga role, and mana of those rangatira through legislation. The Crown had guaranteed those rights and the rights of thousands of Māori within the treaty and the Courts (as an extension of the Crown) had extinguished them.

The latest job cuts to the Department of Conservation are also related to this issue because one third of the land in this country is managed by them. The Green Party and Forest and Bird are rightly concerned about the biodiversity of our endemic species and they say

"With the department already pared to the bone these latest cuts will mean less protection of our special native plants and wildlife,"  Green Party conservation spokesperson Eugenie Sage said.

"DOC manages more than a third of the land in New Zealand and the argument that volunteers and a few corporate sponsors will fill in the gaping hole these cuts and continued pressure on department spending create is nonsense.

"National is trying to turn DOC into a corporate entity focused on stakeholders and corporate sponsorship at the expense of its key role to to protect and preserve native plants and animals," Sage said.

More than 265 jobs have been cut from the Department since National took power. Ninety-six positions were cut in the last restructuring in 2012 alone.

John Key the Prime Minister says that DOC are overstaffed lol. He’s not interested in what the Auditor General recently said about DOC

The move came after a report from the Office of the Auditor General praised DOC's structure, saying regional staff were its biggest strength. It also warned of the risks of relying on commercial partnerships, as the department tries to shore up its coffers.

So we have a new land grab by the Government under the guise of exploration for minerals with a dubious consultation process with Māori and we have a reduction in Department of Conservation adequacy to protect our endemic species and the land they are charged with protecting. The exploitation and alienation of Māori and their land continues and the process is not dissimilar to the underhanded and dishonest way it was done in the past. 

divide and divide

Rio Tinto – Australia's biggest employer of indigenous people – no wonder walsh is smiling

Stuff

The spin

“We are not doing it to point-score and I am not doing it because of the competition. I am doing it because it makes good business sense and it is the right and proper thing to do,

The truth

Walsh says there is nothing contradictory about the need to slash costs inflated by the rising price of materials while expanding indigenous involvement; great synergies exist between both objectives.
“The truth is we are changing the nature of jobs, they are becoming more sophisticated, but we still need people to carry out maintenance and repairs.”

Smile why you destroy the earth, make money for yourself and your mates and oh, while you create a supply of people to carry out maintenance and repairs.

if we let them

I’m increasingly concerned about the proposed open-cast mine on the Denniston Plateau and also the Crown Minerals (Permitting Crown Land) Bill. That bill has seriously eroded the protection from mining that we give our most protected land. That Bill allows decisions on access to conservation land for mining to be made by the Minister of Conservation, as well as the Minister of Energy and Resources and that a economic benefits test be included in the evaluation. This is important because of the proposed Escarpment Mine Project on the Denniston Plateau. That’s an open-cast mine on a unique, fragile ecosystem with the devastation accepted from both sides of the argument. This ecosystem was assessed recently in a BioBlitz by Forest and Bird, and over a weekend 505 species were catalogued, including a new discovery of a moth and 77 species of insects. We just don’t find this ecosystem intact any where else – it is unique. The mine will dig up 6 million tonnes of high quality coal for export. That’s 12 million tonnes of CO2 spewed into the atmosphere when it’s burnt. The Environment Court and The High Court have both agreed that the effects of coal on climate change cannot be considered under the Resource Management Act and the appeal to the Appeal Court is pivotal to putting the brakes on this insanity of a mine.

We can’t pin any hopes on the courts I suspect – no it is going to be up to people power, it is us that will stop them. What about the Department of Conservation aren’t they working to protect the Plateau? Their submission to the RMA was neutral, neither for nor against. But a Department of Conservation briefing paper to the Minister, released under the Official Information Act, says "The entire Denniston Plateau lies within the "West Coast Kawatiri Place" and is identified as a "Priority Site for Biodiversity Management. It is also described as a nationally outstanding landscape…". This landscape will be permanently altered by the mine and overburden dumps and this has the effect of, “leaving post rehabilitation in the vicinity of 75% of the altered landscape unrevegetated” The briefing paper also describes how the “current ecological integrity” of the Denniston Plateau will experience “profound change” including the increased exposure of acid forming rock which would,” likely create a far more significant acid mine drainage problem”. 

They all know what will happen and they don’t care because of the supposed economic benefits but they are all illusion. They admit that at the moment the market for coal has slumped, they talk about 400 jobs – that’s the same number of workers recently dumped when the Spring Creek mine closed down so there are no new jobs. They base their big payoff on imaginary future scenarios that don’t consider any macro or micro event that could affect the maximum potential money (assuming everything goes exactly right), and their future predictions are junk, fallacy. Funny that the opponents to this mine have facts - abundant facts. Facts like the inevitable damage the mine will cause, the 21 identified inconsistencies between the Resource Management Act and proposed mine showing adverse effects on the environment that are more than minor. Facts like inconsistencies between the stated objectives within local, regional and national planning documents and the activities of this mine. These are FACTS. The opposite of the wishes and hopes of the economic growth fantasists, and they won’t change their minds, no. Their minds are made up. But they need the acquiescence of the people to do it. They can only do it if we let them.

For another brilliant post on this subject matter please read Claire Browning at Pundit - she writes so well and she hits every nail on the head. 

just business

Sometimes an event just sums it all up and those of you who have been reading the last few posts will know that I have been showing the connection between a number of actions by the prime minister john key and his government and the bigger picture of what they are after. Deliberate ignorance, court case on water, PR push by oil and gas exploiters, reduction of protection for conservation areas against exploitation. The digging up of Papatūānuku and the desecration through exploitation is a large part of their end game IMO. 

So what is the latest? At the world’s largest conservation summit a motion to protect the world’s rarest dolphins and porpoises, including New Zealand’s Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins was passed by 576 for and 2 against - and one of the 2 against was this country - New Zealand.

Scoop

Karli Thomas, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner, said: "Our government is letting minority business interests ride rough shod over the values of ordinary New Zealanders. By voting against this call to protect our most endangered dolphin, New Zealand has arrogantly dismissed international concern and has severely tarnished our global reputation.”

Shameful? Disgusting? yes for sure all of that but why? Well it's a pain to issue exploitation certificates when pesky dolphins live in the area you want to dig up. Simple really those glorified fish have to go and we can't shoot them so let's keep getting them killed with nets and fishing and destroying their environment. Shameful? Disgusting? Yep and if you think like that, like me, then we just don't understand - it's not personal, it's business.

we know why

Further evidence of the long game of prime minister john key which I have been discussing over the last 3 posts. Deliberate ignorance, court case on water, PR push by oil and gas exploiters and now this - "The Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill which will ensure that all land classified as a National park, Nature Reserve etc in future is automatically included in Schedule 4." That appears to be good but as I/S says it weakens the protection on that land so they can mine it. The proof is right there in front of us, as I/S states

No Right Turn

At present, decisions on whether to permit mining on Schedule 4 land are made by the Minister of Conservation, and strictly on conservation grounds. The bill would change that, inserting the Minister of Energy as a joint decision-maker, and adding an economic benefits test. So, the question of whether to dig up a National Park will be a question of "balancing" conserving the area with the projected economic benefits of destroying it.

This is not happening by chance - it is planned and not even hidden. Part of the strategy is to overwhelm, create a tsunami of information, events, and issues that people care about. They hope it all just becomes too much for people but as usual they are overconfident of their own opinions and judgements of human nature - they think everyone is like them - greedy and self obsessed. But people aren't like that all. They are wrong and that is how we stop their nefarious plans.

Hattip - No Right Turn

the journeyengagement

I talked in my last post about the prime minister john key and his deliberate ignorance designed to bolster the inevitable court case on water. Why is the court case so important for key? It's got nothing to do with Māori or water - it is about commodification and in a round about way, the oil and gas exploitation. He has promised and I don't think the powers that be will accept a backdown on that. News about the PR campaign that they are about to wind into is scary - they have the money and they have many of the politicians.

NZH

Senior figures from the oil industry and the Crown's resource management unit have stressed the need to step up community engagement at the Petroleum Summit in Wellington today.

Petroleum Exploration and Production Association chairman Chris Bush said public confidence was needed to fulfil the Government's exploration goals - and both the Government and industry needed to lay the groundwork for that.

"We need to take the time and explain why it is important to grow oil and gas exploration here in New Zealand, so communities have an understanding of the benefits and the future energy situation we may face without it."

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment unit tasked with managing oil and gas resources and issuing exploration permits is also pushing for greater community engagement.

New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals director of petroleum Kevin Rolens said it would be looking at how it engaged with local communities to build confidence and connect with the public.

Rolens said his unit was developing a stakeholder strategy to ensure the community received consistent messages.

Petroleum Exploration and Production Association chief executive David Robinson said "Our communities must come on the journey with us. Our panels on community engagement are an important part of making sure we are doing our best to engage with Kiwis across the country."

Their tactics are in play in the quotes - simple message driven relentlessly into the mind by repetition and the use of pseudo-words like journey and engagement. They had better get on with it though because the latest news report from their conference was dominated by the loud protestors outside - respect!

stopping the rot

There are many big issues at the moment and two of the most important are the weakening of the RMA, and the Claim put to the Waitangi Tribunal today on Māori rights and ownership of water.

Both of these issues are interrelated and they are both connected to the exploitation of our natural resources for the illusory benefit of a few and the detriment of the many. 

The report released last week by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) outlines substantive changes to the principles of the RMA and as Green spokesperson Eugenie Sage says

Scoop

The TAG recommendations are weighted towards facilitating development. This Government’s agenda is to weaken the RMA to advance its dig it, drill it, mine it, irrigate it agenda for resource exploitation. The proposal to drop the requirement for councils and decision makers to provide for the “preservation” of natural character and the “protection” of outstanding landscapes and significant indigenous vegetation and habitats as matters of national importance ignores Environment Court case law which had built up over the last 20 years. Changing these fundamental parts of the RMA will cause unnecessary litigation and tilt the playing field heavily towards development.

Yes this weakening of the RMA is a pretext for lowering standards to facilitate exploitation of our natural resources.

Fish & Game NZ chief executive Bryce Johnson has commented

Scoop

The technical advisory group (TAG) seems to have gone way beyond its terms of reference, and indeed it smacks of political opportunism to fit a perceived Government ‘economic growth’ agenda,” Mr Johnson says removing the clause 7(h) – which specifically references ‘protection of the habitat of trout and salmon’ – would lead to further water quality decline.

“This would remove what water resource developers see as a roadblock to environmentally unsustainable development, enabling further and faster decline of freshwater quality. Make no mistake – any attempt to lessen the protection of trout and salmon habitat in the RMA is full-frontal attack on the environment.”

Very strong words indeed, highlighting the real concerns and danger of these recommendations from TAG. They need to relax the laws so that they can really get the exploitation ripping along – the Greens and Fish and Game NZ are fighting hard to stop them and Māori are too – just not the Maori Party.

And this issue directly relates to the other big issue of the moment. As The Māori Council nicely states

Scoop

“Maori interests in national freshwater and geothermal resources will be crystal clear when Maori and specialist experts present their evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal hearing,” say New Zealand Maori Council co-chairs Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie and Maanu Paul.

 “The claim sets out what interests Maori had and continue to have in springs, rivers, lakes, aquifers, waterways and geothermal resources,” said Sir Edward.

“The Council became concerned when Government announced its intention to sell off some of its assets without full consideration of the impact on Maori interests in water resources,” added Mr Paul. “The NZMC has a statutory responsibility to advise Government on behalf of all Maori.”

The Mana Party support the claim

Scoop

"Government has consistently refused to deal with the Maori interest in water, instead running the line that "nobody" owns the water, while maintaining all rights of management and jurisdiction over it" said Harawira "but if that was the case, then what gives them the right to sell shares in power companies that use that water""

"Maoridom will be pleased to know that newly appointed Council co-chairman Sir Taihakurei Eddie Durie is spearheading the claim. Taihakurei Durie is one of this country's pre-eminent jurists, and has a greater understanding of the Treaty law than anyone else alive".

"I suspect that there will be many Pakeha supporting this claim as well" said Harawira "as more and more of them come to realise that The Treaty is the only chance of keeping our power companies in the people"s hands".

This line "nobody owns the water" that key is using is a smokescreen especially when in his next breath he says

NZH

"The Waitangi Tribunal's rulings are not binding on the Government, so we could choose to ignore what findings they might have - I'm not saying we would, but we could."

Get it? That is the key way - threats and spin. This will be a very interesting hearing and the report that comes out will show the truth, but the truth is irrelevant to key and his cronies. It is money they want and they will destroy us all to get it - well fuck them I say - we will stop them and we will do it with integrity and honesty - the two qualities our opposition lacks.

noisy now

There is an agenda afoot to sell off this country and recently we have seen three developments that are connected to that agenda. The selling of state assets, the TPP and the opening up of exploitation of oil and gas seem to have a momentum that is relentless. They really want to push these through - why is that I wonder.

A great speech by Hone regarding the government selling of our assets. Now is the time to sign the petition and keep the pressure on. 

Scoop

But the really surprising thing to me, is how long it has taken us to wake up to the fact that selling off resources and assets and services built up by generations of New Zealanders will leave our children and our mokopuna with a future almost too bleak to contemplate.And yet such is the future that this bill and this government, offers us all.

Mr Speaker, MANA opposes this bill to sell off 49% of the shares in Mighty River, Meridian, Genesis and Solid Energy

The opposition is widespread but the fasttracking of the legislation shows the government can't afford to give way on this. If they did their TPP dirty deals mas suffer for instance, and they are dirty indeed. Gordon Campbell has an awesome post on the TPP, as he concludes


Scoop

Right. In sum, the public has very good reason to feel concerned about (a) the adequacy of the TPP investor state dispute panels (b) the secrecy in which the TPP discussions are being pursued and (c) the emptiness of the Trade Minister’s assurances that everything will be hunky dory. If there is nothing to fear, why the secrecy? Can Groser at least give an assurance that before a document that will bind present and future New Zealand governments is signed, it is submitted to Parliament for scrutiny – and if not, why not?

They will also find it stickier trying to sell off the exploitation rights to oil and gas. As the ODT says

Oil and gas exploration companies have until October to submit exploration work programme bids for one or more of the 23 areas, covering just over 40,000sq km of offshore seabed and more than 3300sq km of land in Waikato, Taranaki, Tasman, the West Coast and Southland. 

These developments are connected, as well as many more that struggle to see the light of day. We have seen the backdown with teacher/student ratios, but these issues are more hidden and have less direct impact on averagekiwi. Key knows this and he has to hold the line - unless we force him not to. Time to up the ante and disturb key's comfort zone and the best way to do that is noise - visual and auditory, consistant and focused. We can do it, we can stop them - we will stop them.

and our children grow

On a personal level it has been an eventful start to 2012 and most of the events have been difficult. A lot has also been happening in the real world too - here are some of my thoughts...


I've talked about TAG Oil before on this blog and at that time I highlighted their enthusiasm for exploitation of the East Coast, which they recently described as "the Texas of the south", "literally leaking oil and gas". Only the people can stop these exploiters - the government wants them to drill, but they will be stopped. It doesn't matter how many paid trips TAG Oil organise for the locals they will never win. The battlelines on this one are clear and everyone will have to make a decision about where they actually stand - I have faith that they will stand with us in opposition to their plans.


The Archdruid has put a great post up that really made me think about privilege and it relates to the paragraph above too because the decisions we make today ripple into our future.

... To understand the consequences of that awkward fact, it’s important to get past the rhetoric of victimization that fills so much space in discussions of social hierarchy these days. Of course the people at or near the upper end of the pyramid get a much larger share of the proceeds of the system than anybody else, and those at or near the bottom get crumbs; that’s not in question. The point that needs making is that a great many people in between those two extremes also benefit handsomely from the system. When those people criticize the system, their criticisms by and large focus on the barriers that keep them from having as large a share as the rich—not the ones that keep them from having as small a share as the poor, or to phrase things a little differently, that keep their privileged share from being distributed more fairly across the population as a whole.

We are community but we are also individuals and that is where change occurs. Reduction is the consequence of Peak Oil but we must begin to prepare and get used to less. To reduce. And for those of us bought up in western societies that is a difficult point to accept. Yet as JMG says everywhere else people do live with less. Always thought provoking and inspiring is JMG for me. Another writer and person that I hold in high esteem is Matt McCarten and he is writing very well in the NZH

The winners in our society have most of us convinced that they are financially successful because they are academically brighter, make the most of education opportunities and have superior personal qualities. Losers, on the other hand, are the opposite; with the added problems of criminal behaviour, addictions and family conflict.

But a major academic study that has tracked more than 1300 individuals was released this week. Children born to rich parents have a better chance in life to be happier, healthier and wealthier then those kids from poor backgrounds.

The mythology surrounding the poor is designed to perpetuate poorness.We must stand up for equality each and every time and I am pleased that the Mana Party are focusing on the poor. I see a real alignment with tino rangatiratanga in that approach. And great to see Hone and the Mana Party come out in support of the workers involved in the port dispute. The Standard has lots of posts on the dispute and well worth a read for the facts.


A brilliant article called 'The Exclusive Economic Zone: for sale' by Claire Browning

It says that if what you find out there in the EEZ is worth enough, it’s all for sale. What the Bill does is state its price. It does not set in place any bottom line – any fence, if you like, against risk of environmental destruction.

It is the Schedule 4 policy leftovers warmed up, in a more remote place, where the government hopes we will neither notice nor care.

Our environment is in serious danger and the government has opened the gate for the predators. They respect nothing except profit and they will try to eat us. That is what they do - they eat and shit money. But we can stop them, people can stop them and we will! Part of the way we can do it is communication and consultation - spreading the word, talking about it. Community is the answer but as I've noted earlier we, as individuals, must decide where we stand, what we believe in and what we love. It is not our place to exploit and desecrate Papatūānuku, Mother Earth - it has never been our place, yet here we are, today. And our children grow.

good call from Mana

An awesome Press Release from the Mana Party on oil exploitation and the gnats, entitled "National: The Party of Irresponsibility and Greed" summed up by Mana Party Ikaroa Rawhiti candidate Tawhai McClutchie, who is calling for a complete cancellation on oil and gas development in New Zealand. I agree and support this call and for all the reasons listed by Tawhai

Scoop

what we have iis the irresponsible behaviour of National tendering to the highest bidder for more ways to compromise our environment. Their greed is insatiable.

The people of Ikaroa Rawhiti should be concerned with the evidence in Tauranga. We see a Maritime Authority sorely unprepared to deal with oil spills. A government proving that they don’t know how to prevent a spill don’t know how to stop a spill and don’t know how to clean up a spill. And yet they’re planning to sell more oil permits?

Tauranga Moana needs to be a wake-up call. Our country should be developing more widespread, community-based sustainable energy alternatives. Not only does it behove this country’s clean, green image, such sustainable energy alternatives help break our habit of oil dependence, puts power back into our people’s hands, and it is healthier for the environment and wildlife. All future oil operations must stop!

Yes the arguements for further exploitation are based on selfishness and greed and the myth of unending growth, which is false and illusory - it just isn't going to happen - peak oil and the effects of climate change are happening now and the world as we have known it is changing, drastically.  Community and connection are the only answer to their lies and this Press Release is part of the solution to the problems many refuse to acknowledge.

restless and edgy

This oil spill has got me edgy - I want to do something, anything, but down here there is little to do except look at the wetlands in front of me and consider the massive pollution and misery up north.


Hone and Mana are saying get out there and clean up the beaches but I can't see how putting people at risk through contamination with this toxic mess is going to help anyone. But it is impossible to do nothing, especially when you can see the destruction in front of your eyes. If I was up there I would be out there doing my bit too, so I fully understand the reasoning, the heart that says - we must do SOMETHING.

The Mana Party

“I am grateful to those MANA supporters who have already joined the clean-up crews and I am calling on our supporters to ignore the government’s calls and join the team at Papamoa to clean up our beaches”

All I can offer at this stage is a song




I met up with Aaron a few months ago here in the bay and as we looked out to sea he asked what the kai moana was like - ka pai I replied. I wish it was ka pai for the people and environment near Tauranga. I've got two assignments due tomorrow and my head is struggling because my heart is torn and raw and hurt. We must stop this happening again and stop their plans for more destruction and exploitation. We have no choice - we just have to do it, we have to stop them.

oil nightmare

It seems pretty clear that the Rena stuck on the Astrolabe reef off Tauranga will break up and the question really is, how bad can it get? So far it is horrendous with oil washing up on beaches, containers sinking and floating around and the destruction of wildlife, wetlands and lifestyles underway. There are multiple degrees of misery to come as the heavy oil spews and this is equivilant to another natural disaster - but it isn't natural - it's man made. Blame? I have plenty to blame but I'm not going to go there at this point, other than to say, as Environment Minster Smith said - this was inevitable. It is always inevitable and if we let the scum who would exploit our earth get their way, we become tainted. They want to drill for oil and gas and dig up our home and this utter disaster is a foretaste of their world. Reject it and reject them I say. I want to take the exploiters to the sick beaches and rub their noses in the foul toxic sludge and i'd spit in their faces, only it would wash off some of their guilt. But it is the time for support to the people, and environment now, the time for blame will come.

Morgan at Maui St has good posts here, here and here

The Rena disaster fucks me off, it fucks me off big time. It goes to show New Zealand does not have the capacity to respond to even the most minor of oil spills. New Zealand does not have the policy mechanisms or the capacity to deal with an actual spill and the consequences thereof - not even a minor spill. Hekia Parata should take note. If she approves oil extraction in the Raukumara this could end up happening to her moana and her whenua in Ngati Porou, but to the power of x1000.

Claire at Pundit

The rock the ship is on, the Astrolabe Reef, is deemed by the regional council to be of “significant conservation value”. Reports this week have described the waters, accurately, as “teeming with life”, “pristine”, with conservationists warning of a. “wildlife tragedy” that will affect whales and seals and many many seabirds - an international scale conservation incident, at the worst time of year.

Idiot/Savant at No Right Turn

This feeds into the second problem: the government's inaction highlights the gulf in values between them and ordinary kiwis. Ordinary New Zealanders regard the environment as a priority, especially where recreation opportunities are concerned. National does not. Witness their enthusiasm to dig up our national parks, their erosion of environmental standards, their foot-dragging on climate change. But now, that attitude is going to bite them, hard. People understand that a government which shared their concerns about the environment would have acted sooner. While this would not have prevented the disaster, it would likely have mitigated it somewhat. Which means that Tauranga residents wouldn't be needing masks to walk on the beach.

I feel gutted by this.

oil off Tauranga

We have a oil spill disaster happening now off Tauranga, where a container ship has ran aground and "haemorrhaging oil into the sea off Tauranga." A 5km oil slick has already killed wildlife, they tried a dispersant last night but it didn't work.The ship is carrying hazadous substances and the weather is due to get messy. This ship has 1700 tonnes of heavy oil on board.

NZH

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) pollution response service manager Andrew Berry told Radio New Zealand he was "very worried'' about the threat to the environment posed by the slick. "It has the potential to be very, very serious indeed, simply because of the age of the ship, the damage that she's sustained and the 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil on board.''

"We stand on the brink of disaster if the salvage goes wrong," said Shane Wasik, NZ Underwater Association president and a local diver.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce said the priority now was to remove the oil from the ship as quickly as possible. "The difficulty is that the situation is deteriorating and according to the advice I've received, there's the possibility it could break up and sink - it's certainly serious what's going on there," he told the Herald last night. "(Emergency response teams) are certainly moving as fast as they can - it's been a bit frustrating for everybody in terms of getting the right equipment to achieve the removal of the oil and containers."

This is a test case for the response teams and if this turns into more of an environmental danger it will be clear that we have little defence against these events - and they want more drilling for oil and more potential disasters. Sadly we will have to get expert at cleaning up oil spills and we will have to learn how to decontaminate birds and dispose of dead fish and animals, and we will have to learn how to clean oil out of sand and wetlands and of course, the open water. Yes, unless we stop their exploitation we will have to learn many new skills.