The raft of changes announced today to speed up the Fast Track law is an unethical strategy attacking the EPA for allowing affected parties to be heard and for Panels to consider evidence with any degree of balance.

“Shane Jones dumped the Fast Track process on the EPA and is now attacking them and iwi and communities for any engagement with the issues. In the Government’s mind the Fast track is supposed to be a tokenistic rubber stamp and its not stamping fast enough” says Coromandel Watchdog spokesperson Catherine Delahunty,

“ We are in the middle of a Panel process on the Oceana Gold Waihi North gold mine proposal. Will these new law changes proposed by Xmas be retrospective? Are we all wasting our time and effort trying to comment in a limited process which Shane Jones plans to overturn? Our organisation has many questions about the ethics of attacking the existing law they passed without due consideration just to make it even more unjust and inaccessible to participation . Jones seems to think the EPA stands for “ Extractive Privileges Act “ .

Our lawyers and experts have worked very hard to provide some balance to the restrictive Panel process and now there are explicit threats the EPA must do whatever the Government says and that even fewer groups will be deemed eligible to even comment.

A Government could hardly be more out of touch with the values of so many of its citizens and so out of touch with the importance of the environment at this time in history. To attack the EPA for doing its job under law and then to attack the law they themselves drafted is both incompetent and arrogant. A truncated Select Committee so that they can rush through more draconian amendments is a travesty .”

Ms Delahunty said that the EPA didn’t deserve this sabotage of their role and it was both disgraceful and provocative to continue to insult guardianship of the environment.

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