Select Committee Stands By Recommendations On Asbestos Petition

The Local Government and Environment Select Committee has presented a report on a response received from the Manukau City Council to the committee’s previous report on Petition 1996/1628 of Rosemary Godwin and others. The petition relates to asbestos contamination in East Tamaki.

The committee’s previous report made seven recommendations to the Manukau City Council (the council) that would address the concerns expressed by petitioners. The council has accepted five of the committee’s recommendations and rejected two of them.

The committee considers the council has overlooked the objectives of the recommendations. In particular, the committee intended not to attribute blame for the situation. The recommendations formed a ‘package’ of measures or actions the committee considers would help all parties to move forward towards a long-term solution. The council’s decision to adopt only those recommendations it considered were already being carried out only serves to diminish the overall effectiveness of the committee’s suggested measures, and could potentially prolong efforts to resolve the concerns of the residents.

The committee emphasises it has not explicitly or implicitly endorsed the council’s actions as being ‘best practice’, as the council’s response suggests.

The council is seeking a contribution from the Government of up to one million dollars towards the costs of preparing its assessment and management control strategy. The council has not taken up an invitation to revise its previous application, to increase the project’s national applicability. In light of this, and also given the council’s budget is significantly greater than that of the Ministry for the Environment, the committee does not support the council’s request for a contribution from the Government.

The committee stands by all of its recommendations on the petition.

Jeanette Fitzsimons
Chairperson

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>