26 August 2005

Which Don Brash should the public believe?

Which Don Brash should the public believe on whether National is going to log conservation land, Conservation Minister Chris Carter asked today.

"Should the public believe the Don Brash who categorically ruled out logging conservation forests yesterday, or should they believe the Don Brash who spent three days touring the West Coast in July last year telling everyone who would listen he would reopen logging on the Coast?

"Brash's comments were widely reported in the West Coast media last year as a vow," Mr Carter said.

"In the Greymouth Evening Star he was reported as telling one meeting in Westport: If we can do sustainable logging and keep the unique environment of the West Coast, we will.

"The paper also heard National's environment spokesman Nick Smith say exactly the same thing at another meeting in Greymouth, whilst standing next to Don Brash.

"Brash's two positions on this issue are impossible to reconcile. So, just whom has he been telling fibs to? Was it the West Coast last July, or the whole of New Zealand yesterday?"

ENDS

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