Hi People.
I hope you had a merry xmas, and that you are looking forward to new years eve. We had my family here for xmas this year. We operate a bi-ennial gathering , my family one year, Sharron’s the next. Works very well. No travelling Xmas day between. Pity about the weather, and I had gone to tremendous lengths to prepare the deck so it looked all nice and fresh ,but hardly got to use it.
I still have not got my face back on the cover of my blogg site, looks like I will have to figure it out myself. Oh well that is the breaks ,I guess those responsible think it detracts from the message and you all will lose interest and find another blogger to read.
Earlier this month I got a reply from the Auditor Generals Office re my query as to just what report they used to determine that Horizons Regional Council delegated authority to the Council Advisory Group to make Plan Changes on the Councils behalf. Let alone the fact that it was an informal Committee with no Chair and included the Council Chair himself plus staff. The person replying disregarded all these issues and instead said she was very sorry I was not happy with the Office’s decision not to conduct an investigation into the conduct of the committee, but tough.
So people there it rests .(please read previous posts on this subject.) I will say that it confirms what I have been thinking for along time and that Govt itself is right amongst this nonsense, and that the One Plan is not about water and soil outcomes ,but political outcomes, being Treaty Settlements. The fisical cap has purported to have become too great and now local govt is up for grabs. Rodney Hide said just that at the Local Govt Conference in Wellington 3 yrs ago. As a conseqence private land is included. My evidence is the Ruapehu District Council Draft District Plan, dated June 2010. The Protected Areas Zone includes the Conservation Act sec 4. Treaty of Waitangi, including the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Horizons Regional Council’s Sustainable Land Use Initative programme has farm plans identified in Councils Catchment Operations Agenda dated the 9th August 2011, report no 11-130. page 127. This report identifies farm plans which sit bang on top of or right next door to private Hapu and Iwi claims on private land in the Waimarino Block. This is no different for the Ohura South claims nor, in my view, claims right across the region. Indeed the District Overview Map Book for the Whanganui Enquiry District details claims on private land covering large areas of the catchment. The Ministry of Justice is blocking my requests for the maps of claims in Rangitikei, Taihape, and the Taurarua on the dubious grounds that the settlement process for those Iwi authorities has not been concluded.
Indeed the late Sir Archie Taiaroa indicated that I should be asking questions about the political correctness of discussions between Iwi and the Office of Treaty Settlements going back to 2004 . There are 4 letters between the Minister in Charge of Treaty negotiations and Te Awa Tupua Negotiation Committee, dated 04 March ,05 May,16th July that the Office and the Chief Ombudsmen Dame Beverly Wakem will not release . Why? I have detailed a classic example of combined Council plans trying to achieve the outcome sought. Worse still the RMA reforms being proposed now include combined Regional and District Plans as mandatory.
I am not alone when I say the councils science is a nonsense, although many would say subjective. Where to from here? Over the last 5 yrs I have detailed the nonsense that has gone on within Horizons Regional Council and the Courts. They can only have got away with it with political support. Indeed that was the guts of the then Minister of Local Govt Rodeny Hides message to the conference I referred to above.
Federated Farmers are no less implicated than Govt in all this nonsense. I pay a sub to the Feds to represent me. If I want to be represented by a Green movement, I will pay a sub to the Green Party or Green Peace. As I have detailed in previous posts, this organisations is Green. To the point of being an environmental protection society. The only conclusion I can come to. I do not know whether they really understand what the outcome is to be, political or environmental, being that they seem to be of the opinion that when we are really clean and green we will achieve huge profits for our agricultural produce. Or is this the nonsense they are pushing down our throats so as to convince us of the merits of even greater environmental limits.
A good case in point is the Straight Furrow dated 10th December 2013 page 4.”Winds of change blow across the plains.” Here they are convincing the Central Canterbuy Plains farmers to accept a Nutrient Leaching Allowance of 15. (Nitrogen) Many of thse guys have signed up for the Central Plains Water schemes and are hoping to increase agricultural production up to 300% by converting to Dairying. Many of them are committed. Where to now? The only way they can achieve the limit is by building barns and converting to a cut and carry operation. Housing Cows inside all year round. That opens the door to the hysterical Carbon Miles Tax argument that raged across Europe a couple of years ago. Where is the section 32 Resource Management Requirement, that the Feds and Hort NZ went to court in July this year. Is that now not a requirement that the Feds argued for. What about the Land and Water Forums work due to be ratified by Govt any day soon. Local democratic decision making. Catchment by catchment
I recieved our local Feds notice of meeting earlier this month which contained a brief overview of the minutes of the last meeting. The Chair stated ,sorry guys but we lost the High Court appeal on the section 32 requirement. May have lost that, but they won the day in para 20-23 and again in para 90-99. 20-23 is our advisory group project, indeed council rolled over on the Nitrogen Leaching Allowances even before the court sat , see Regional Council Agenda dated 25th June 2013, report 13-124. and para 90-99 finds that Horizons are in breach of the National Policy Statement Fresh Water. Incidently this was the question that caused the much publicised blow up between the Chief Operating Officer Horizons Regional Council and myself in August this year.
No mention of that to the members. Most if not all are ignorant of that. All this leads me to believe that the LUC’s are on the back burner for the time being in Horizons Region, but when the political climate is appropriate they will be back, but on a much smaller scale such as the Protected Area Zone discussed above. The Feds and Hort NZ had the chance to bury the N Limits once and for all by going back to the High Court with the Advisory Group Project ,which is what Justice Ko’s told them to do in his decision. “This is a matter for another review. Horizons must be seen to be open and transparent with regard to their activities in the Environment Court ”
I rest my case.