PM favours fast growth ahead of balanced growth
new-zealand-labour-party
Wed Feb 24 2010 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
PM favours fast growth ahead of balanced growth
Wednesday, 24 February 2010, 9:16 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
**PM favours fast growth ahead of balanced growth
**
Canterbury people should be worried about comments by Prime Minister John Key in relation to allocating water in the province without genuine community involvement, says Labour’s water spokesman Brendon Burns.
“John Key’s main concern seems to be about getting things done fast, but if speeding up the allocation of water by non-accountable people is the Prime Minister’s definition of efficiency, Cantabrians have every cause to be worried,” Brendon Burns said.
A review of Environment Canterbury has suggested axing its role in water management and giving this to a regional water authority appointed by the Government. John Key said yesterday that from a purely economic perspective all the evidence supported more efficient allocation in the South Island and he believed this could be well balanced against environmental issues.
Brendon Burns said: “I support more greening of the Canterbury Plains so long as it doesn’t mean more browning of our waterways. John Key’s comments suggest he wants rapid water allocation for quick economic outcomes.
”Bowling Ecan and replacing it with a government-appointed board will facilitate such an outcome, but it won’t make Canterbury a better place to live in if water quality continues to degrade.”
Brendon Burns said that after years of handing out water consents with no restraint, Ecan had begun more recently to resist the pressure of big farming interests whose record on environmental outcomes was woeful.
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“We’ve lost our birthright of being able to swim safely in Canterbury’s lowland streams, with dairying the biggest contributor to what’s happened.
“Ecan has been overturned in the Environment Court trying to stop extraction in red-zoned areas by corporate interests who can buy the best science and lawyers. That’s part of the reason Ecan had been one of the slowest to approve resource consents,” Brendon Burns said.
Brendon Burns has backed the Ecan-driven Canterbury Water Management Strategy which recommends a five year period of improving existing water quality before any new water is allocated under tougher, new environmental standards.
ENDS
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