Editor’s note:- Extracts from an address by the then president of the NZ Deerstalkers Association, John B Henderson 1973. These comments are even more relevant to today and to the future. MPs should take note in in particular “Fast Track ministers” Shane Jones and Chris Bishop.
The decay of our ecosystem and the degradation of these resources have been characterised throughout history and throughout the world by that familiar common denominator – greed.
I contend that the state of the world community and that of New Zealand scene dictates that the resources of land, air and water; of soils and minerals; of mountains and lakes and forests and glaciers and sea coasts; of fish and birds and wildlife generally and of the aesthetic and recreational values that go with them, must not be exploited at the discretion of individuals by private deals for private profits – we long ago passed the point of no return where social pecking orders and the privileges of a wealthy elite could be tolerated as the determining factors in decision making.
All the resources mentioned must be conserved wisely in the public interest and in Parliamentary democracy, the government has been charged with this solemn duty and given a mandate by virtue of its complete control of the administrative, financial, legal and economic machine to fully protect the public’s interests.
If the system fails, it is because the government has failed which leads me to emphatically state that politics and environment are nothing more than cause and effect.
The plain facts with respect to a social, environmental and economic disaster for New Zealand is the Manapouri power scheme – aluminium smelter deal.
Surely it was a glaring example of how to plunder resources for peanut returns.
Hundreds of millions of public money went into financing New Zealand’s largest single investment and undertaking, exploiting our largest single power resource and our second largest river for a wholly foreign owned smelter run by British, American and Japanese interests.
Comalco Power (NZ) Ltd pay a quarter of the price that Invercargill industrial consumers pay
You must not be deluded by the new generation of resource auctioneers who label all who challenge their right to plunder for private and often foreign profits as “eco-nuts” or “cranks.”
There are other examples of governments fleecing the public’s environment.
I have no time to explain that behind the fight to prevent trout farming was the crunch of alienation of land water and a fish resource into private hands for private profits.
Surely it is time the public demanded that all transactions involving the commercial use or the manipulation of public resources be open to public scrutiny and public challenge!
It’s not only Shane Jones and Chris Bishop who should heed recalling John Henderson’s words but Tama Potaka and his terrible Conservation amendment Bill aimed at hocking off public land. Indeed all MPs and particularly those in the Coalition Government who approved the Fast Track Approval law. That isa thinly disguised attack on democracy.
Politicians go for short term monetary gains at the expense of long term necessities.
Environmental degradation is driven by greed stems from prioritising short-term financial gains and overconsumption over valued long-term ecological sustainability.
Wise words by Mr John Henderson. He had his critics within NZDA too, almost without exception, members of the National party which was government at the time.
John Henderson had an incredible vision as did our own Tony Orman in regarding our spectacular environment.
Frank Henry and R Rennick sum our current leadership perfectly when describing the environment in it current state,it would seem to that to many Kiwis don’t know or care enough about the diminishing backyard to involve themselves our speak there minds, without numbers, our fight stays as and David and Goliath were corruption and deep pockets win, regardless of the damage they cause to the environment
This is very very good.
Our national anthem has several verses and while we usually only sing the first and its translation into Te Reo Maori we should ponder on this verse:
“From dissension, envy, hate, And corruption guard our state, Make our country good and great, God defend New Zealand!!!!!”
I do not know what drugs they smoke in Wellington .. but whatever they are, it seems to seriously cloud their judgement.
It seems to be a never-ending cycle .. never, a universally good government, generating universally good outcomes .. but just different degrees of good and bad.
Sometimes, there’s a fair degree of damage control going on .. trying to fix the mess the last lot made (as is definitely the case right now) .. but the overall effect is that our country is slowly slipping deeper and deeper into the mire,
Our last government was perhaps the worst in living memory .. if not ever .. particularly, for economic mismanagement .. but also, for undermining the very social fabric of our country. New Zealand may never be the same again.
Upon resigning, Jacinda Ardern chose to immediately leave the country as a result, and continues to live in self-imposed exile to this day. There are so many people who despise / revile her, it may be a long time before she ever chooses to live in this country again.
But past governments have also both sold off publicly owned assets .. and put in place policy settings that allows foreigners to buy far too much value in privately-owned assets, too.
KiwiRail .. our top four major banks .. telecommunications .. our electricity sector .. mining .. forestry .. agriculture .. transport companies .. foreign interests own far too much of our productive economy.
Foreign interests own assets in our country for only one reason .. they generate returns.
Owning those assets leads to wealth creation.
When those assets were Kiwi-owned, those returns remained onshore.
When they’re foreign-owned, the returns go offshore.
Our economy is now leaking like a sieve .. bleeding money out of the country.
We do not entrust running our country to our politicians so they can use the privilege to screw us over.
The process of creating wealth often also exploits our natural resources.
Which can result in environmental damage.
It’s one thing for Kiwi’s to exploit our own natural resources .. while creating wealth for ourselves.
It’s quite another thing to let foreign interests do it.
A really good example of this was Solid Energy. They used to mine 80-85% of all coal produced in New Zealand. Our politicians created an environment which encouraged Solid Energy to make alternative investments. This helped generate a lot of debt, leading to the company being unable to ride out a drop in prices in the coal market, for a period.
Nett result .. we used to mine our own coal, now it is mostly done by Australian mining companies.
Bottom line .. our politicians, on balance, do a pretty poor job of running our country, over time.
A major problem is not actually the specific policies of one government or the other .. whether it be centre-right, or centre-left .. but the oscillations between the two.
These cost us dearly.
At the end of the day, we vote our politicians in .. so if we want things to change .. then we must find a way to change them.