NO EEZ ROAD FOR TANGAROA

PRESS RELEASE

MANA Leader Hone Harawira

Thursday 16 August

“Adding ‘sustainable management’ to the purpose of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill will do little to allay concerns about the ecological impacts of deep sea drilling and mining” said MANA leader Hone Harawira.

“In the same way that the Treaty is ignored by government because treaty clauses are not given any legislative authority, so too will ‘sustainable management’ be ignored because the EEZ bill provides no formal backing for such management practices”.

Harawira said that the bill is part of a raft of changes initiated by the government to make it easier for foreign companies like Petrobras and Rio Tinto to get their hands on New Zealand’s natural resources.“It began with the weakening of the provisions in the Resource Management Act which they are proposing to make even weaker. Then government passed the Marine and Coastal Area Act to give them full control over the foreshore and seabed thanks to the Maori Party. And now they are pushing ahead with this EEZ bill which even independent commentators are saying favours exploitation over the environment”.

MANA would support amendments to give Maori a greater voice in consent and appeal processes, and to strengthen environmental obligations “but if those amendments are not included in the bill we will be opposing it”.

ENDS

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