Thursday, 23 June 2005

Baldock: DOC is the Confiscation Department

The Government should rename the Conservation Department the Confiscation Department, United Future environment and outdoors spokesman Larry Baldock said in Parliament today, in slamming DOC for "running roughshod over" the public with the Great Barrier Marine Reserve.

"It's confiscation, pure and simple," Mr Baldock said.

In tackling Associate Conservation Minister Rick Barker in Parliament, he said DOC under its Minister, Chris Carter, was effectively confiscating one of Auckland's favourite fishing spots and thereby depriving recreational and traditional fishers of their birthright.

"I have constantly asked the Minister in this House to explain how he and his department can ignore the objections of the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council, the Ngati Rehua hapu of Ngati Wai, the Auckland City Council, adjoining landowners, Option4 and the Big Game Fishing Council, representing hundreds of thousands of hard-working, tax-paying New Zealanders.

"It seems he is perfectly happy to impose his will over all these groups," Mr Baldock said.

"This 'we know best attitude' is not acceptable and will probably lead to the Minister being and ex-Minister in the near future."

He said the rail-roading through of the marine reserve was completely at odds with Mr Carter's recent public claims that he wanted marine reserve areas driven by working groups of stakeholders and not pushed through by DOC.

"And then this one is driven through with only lip-service but no action on the views of the majority," Mr Baldock said.

ENDS

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