05 October, 2004

No projects will be exempt local consultation

Suggestions that the government has some secret list of projects that will be exempt from local consultation are ridiculous, says Associate Environment Minister David Benson-Pope.

Mr Benson-Pope says from the outset, the priority of the review of the Resource Management Act was protecting the environment and maintaining the opportunity for community involvement in decision-making.

"The solution has been to create a menu of options that local communities themselves can ask the government to explore, to help those communities to cope with large or complex consent applications that might potentially be overwhelming," he said.

An outdated list of 39 major infrastructure projects compiled by the Ministry of Economic Development in 2003 – long before the Government initiated a review of the RMA - appears to have been deliberately misinterpreted by Forest and Bird.

"The outdated early draft document that Forest and Bird have was never considered by Government as part of the review.

"The Government has no pre-determined view as to which RMA processes will be most appropriate for any project. That is for consent applicants and local authorities to consider for themselves – if and when any projects come to fruition.

"New provisions within the package of RMA improvements strengthen community involvement," said the Minister.

ENDS

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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>>