Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith has refuted claims
made on Radio New Zealand this morning about a meeting he
had with the New Zealand Fish & Game Council on 18 July.
“The claims about what I said at the meeting are
untrue. I am releasing these hand-written notes taken at the
time by the departmental official from DOC’s head office
responsible for Fish & Game who was at the meeting. His
account is very different from that of Mr Haines, and is an
accurate account of what was discussed. The notes are
exactly as they were taken down at the time before any
controversy arose,” Dr Smith says.
“Mr Haines is
a long-time critic of me as Conservation Minister, most
recently over 1080. He is not neutral and his deliberate
misrepresentation of the meeting is driven by politics and
the election season. I am taking legal advice over his
statements. I have been a long-term advocate for improving
New Zealand’s water quality, including putting in place
New Zealand’s first National Policy Statement on
Freshwater, and I find his statements offensive and
defamatory.”
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