Maryan Street
Environment Spokesperson

11 July 2013

Government appoints chairperson it sacked

The appointment of Alec Neill to the Tukituki Board of Inquiry by Environment Minister Amy Adams and Conservation Minister Nick Smith comes as a surprise, given the fact Nick Smith sacked him as the Chair of the Environment Canterbury Board three years ago, says Maryan Street, Labour’s Environment Spokesperson.

“It is bizarre that Alec Neill should be reinstated when he was so peremptorily dismissed not so long ago for incompetence over water management matters - much the same work as he has just been appointed to do.

“This presents risks for the government twice over. First, you have to wonder what its real reason for dismissing an elected body (ECAN) was, if not for incompetence as was the excuse given at the time.

“Labour does not believe Mr Neill is incompetent and said so at the time the democratically elected Board was dismissed. We are curious to know what has changed the government’s mind about him.

“Second, it presents a risk to the integrity of the Board of Inquiry which will be considering the huge Tukituki Catchment Proposal. Will the affected communities be able to have confidence in someone the government saw fit to sack?

“There’s something not quite right here.

“Was the sacking of ECAN a politically motivated stunt or were the elected members incompetent, as alleged by the government. If they were incompetent, an assertion which we do not support, why is one being reinstated now and is this simply more politicking by the government?”

ENDS

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