Who will speak for the river?

The Green Party is questioning a major gap in the make-up of the board responsible for developing the regional water allocation plan for the Waitaki Catchment.

Green Party Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the five members of the Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Board named today (Thursday) did not bring all the skills required by the legislation.

“They are all no doubt very good people in their fields,” said Ms Fitzsimons, the Green Environment spokesperson. “The panel is strong on water allocation and particularly on irrigation economics and hydro, but it is lacking in at least one rather vital area.

“The new Act says the Minister must have regard to the need for ‘knowledge, skill and experience in relation to matters likely to come before the Board about...river ecology’.

“Nothing in their biographies suggest any expertise in the needs of the Waitaki River itself - its threatened wildlife, world-renowned fisheries and superb recreational values. This has always been our concern about this process.”

Ms Fitzsimons, who chaired the select committee that considered and substantially amended the legislation, called on the Environment Minister to add a freshwater ecologist to the board to fill the gap.

© Scoop Media

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>>