Good morning people. Yes it is glorious winter morning. Abit of cloud, lots of sun and a hint of mist. And yes a boomer frost. Must have been well below zero, and the school bus would not start. A very good indication of a very heavy frost.
Well there it is on the front page of the Farmers Weekly May 29th. Consents to cost $50k? May 29th. Restricted discretionary consents. The processing of 40 consents stopped Consents processing to take longer and be more complex. Ecological and environmental effects reports. Impacts on drinking water. The need to have regard to future Overseer regulatory management tool, which with each version is getting stricter. .Now here is a doozy. The court also determined that affordability of mitigating options was not allowable given that it was not written into the One Plan. Yes the court is right with that regard, but the court (Judge Thompson ) in the first decision commissioned his own report on affordability better known as a section 32. But he did not make it public. It was this court sitting that wrote the now infamous One Plan that the Environmental Defense Society (EDS) has seen implemented.
So the Plan has a affordability clause written , but the court has determined to ignore it. Local Govt New Zealand rep Doug Leeder advised farmers to look closely at the implications of councils using Overseer as regulatory tool. and Fed Farmers (joke) warn that the court ruling will see councils apply a more ridged definition of environmental law. What a joke. This is a sign of how political it is. Right on there.
The next paragraph is the one that caught my attention. The EDS has successfully sought an Environment Court Declaration on land use changes to the Mackenzie District Councils district plan?????????. Hang on a minute. This has been the guts of my argument all along. Who controls the Effects of the use and development of land. The High court has determined that there is a overlap of functions yet the RMA and the Local Govt Act do not allow for. Confused. I am not. The feds are spot on. Political . A determined and unlawful attempt by religious and political activists who have found them selves cozy positions within Govt where in they can seek the outcomes they desire. Of course they are the puppets of overseas money lenders, whether it be the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank and the conditions of loans to central govt that they impose. No good will come of this. Land Use Change. The opening statement of the One Plan. With Land Use Change will come change of ownership, obviously, but WHO will own it.Asians, or other, or Maori. Lets face it, Maori are becoming a economic force in their own right. And good on them. But if that change of ownership too, is engineered buy the unlawful use of Local Govt Plans then that is Zimbabwe all over again. And if the use of regulatory tools is intended to financially inhibit economic activity to bring about the above ,then that is just as bad as using a gun.
Last paragraph. Horizons Chair Bruce Gordon bleats that the original plan would have removed 200 tonnes of N from the Regions water way ,once all farms were consented. .10 yrs monitoring shows improving water quality.
Now here is my view. My man inside Horizons told me early this year, that no matter what the outcome ,Horizons are going to review the plan and will implement a plan change to give legal effect to how they are currently implementing the plan. Great I said. What about me. Yes ,We will wright out Table 13.2. Land use classes and associated N leaching tables. Oh man I sold the farm to soon.
I talked to him last week. A different story. Oh well Mike. Now Govt is amending the National Policy Statement for Fresh Water and introducing bottom line limits for Ecoli, N and Sediment. They are after you boyo. Worse still they have the support of Fed Farmers and Beef and Lamb.
Now just a word of caution here, to my mind that will impact more on Dairy farms on more marginal hill unites and land use classes. In my neck of the woods most sheep/beef farms are farming pretty close, being extensively farmed 7.5 su per hec and have been for ever. Of course we still have Overseer up grades to contend with and a lot of farmers that have been captured by environmental plans have planted pine trees, which will, if not already, cause sever water quality problems with regard to sediment. Plus the other issue with pines is acidity of the soil. This in turn acidifies water and thus the loss of aquatic biodiversity. Our local Kaitieke school identified this. Their wet land teaming with, yet the stream below devoid.
So there it is. Creating the science to achieve the wording of the One Plan. Land Use Change.
I have talked about Zimbabwe ,but not South Africa. What is going on in NZ at the moment has been repeated before in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Both are failed or failing states.
Here it is the NZ Herald Thursday June 8th page B5. South Africa in recession, down grade looms. Moody’s Investment service rates the nation at 2 levels above Junk status, and at risk of review for downgrade. citing political uncertainty, political turmoil, and slow economic growth.
My advice to farmers is please do not get involved with environmental farm plans/strategy’s. By all means fence water ways ,biodiversity etc. But NO Plans. You are volunteering to screw your self and the regulators have captured you. Waite for the regulator and you have got them. Use the Magna Carta. NZ’s founding legal document. No man shall be divorced from his land etc.
If you cannot wait for what ever reason then Federated Farmers Dairy Section Chair Andrew Hoggard echo’s my advice from past posts. Cut Debt or Go. See front page Farmers Weekly June 5th. This is serious stuff. The time for complacency or ignorance is nearly gone. Too many refuse to recognize, whether it is because they are greenish them selves’, or just think the council land officer is a good guy, or they are just too tired to be bothered. Whilst Hoggard refers to Dairy, It is no different for Sheep, Beef.
Please wake up.