Agresearch And Shareholding Ministers Not Complying With Governing Legislation In Relation To Proposed Wallaceville Closure

The Crown Research Institutes Act 1992 requires that one of the six principles of the operation of a Crown Research Institute is “that a Crown Research Institute should be an organisation that exhibits a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interest of the community in which its operates and by endeavouring to accommodate or encourage those interests when able to do so”. AgResearch is a Crown Research Institute.

The government’s shareholding Ministers, of which Rimutaka MP Paul Swain is one, has similar obligations under the Act in relation to the operation of the AgResearch campus at Wallaceville, Upper Hutt.

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy said “it is clear that the AgResearch Board had had no regard whatsoever to the interests of the Upper Hutt community as it is required to do under its governing legislation. The first that the Council, the community and the Wallaceville staff heard of this proposal to close was when a shock announcement was made on Tuesday of this week. How can AgResearch have considered the interest of the community if they have not even bothered to talk to us to assess what those impacts might be”.

Mayor Guppy said that he was to meet with local MP and cabinet minister Paul Swain within the next few days. “I’m sure that Paul Swain will stand up and fight for the community he represents” he said. “Upper Hutt will not stand for another closure of a government institution so soon after the CIT debacle”.