Are we being Lied to?

Are we being Lied to?

In my considered opinion the answer is definitely yes!

So let’s look at why and how.

It could just be a lack of sufficient Knowledge or a lack of accurate information.

What are we talking about?

I am talking about the decision to implement Plan Change 1!

The Waikato Regional Council has been saying that because the plan change is before the environment court that they have to put it into place after the court gives its final ruling on the plan change.

But that is not true.

Are they saying this because they firmly believe it or are they saying it because they have been given incorrect information?

Either way I firmly believe that it is incumbent on the council members to ensure they are giving the correct information to their ratepayer constituents and not telling them lies either deliberately or accidentally.

Currently we are being lied to either deliberately or accidentally and the following is a description of a post on facebook put up by the Chairperson and my answers to that post in red:

Plan Change 1 has been a hot topic lately. And some of what's being said is simply incorrect. WRC has compiled info that sets the record straight. If this is of interest to you, click on the link below to read more.

One thing to be very clear about is this: Because PC1 is before the court, no elected member or executive of Waikato Regional Council has the ability to influence the process.

Correct. No one can influence the court process unless they were a part of the original appeal.

No councillor, including the Chair, nor executive of WRC, nor candidates that say they’ll stop it if elected, can stop it. Correct they cannot stop the court process. Only the Government can halt proceedings at this point through legislative change. Correct the government can halt the process by way of a legislative change. And, despite what some might be saying, the recent legislation, which aimed to halt council planning processes, does not apply to PC1. Correct as this was actioned under the Settlement legislation it does not fit into the current proposed halt to all planning processes.

But what she doesn’t mention anywhere is that all of these comments only apply to the process as it is before the environment court. After the final court verdict is set down then it is my understanding that the WRC then has to ratify and accept the Plan Change as a whole and implement it.

I believe that it is at this stage that the WRC councillors will have the ability (dependent on numbers of course) to either go ahead and enact it or to reject it and start again.

As a dairy farmer in the PC1 area, I understand the frustration of this drawn out process and the angst of the unknown. But I’m committed to making sure that landowners and farmers hear honest information about where we are at in the process, and will continue to enable WRC to work closely with our dedicated farmers and food producers as we navigate the next steps, on behalf of our industries, our communities, our region and our environment.
It’s great to read this statement from Pamela as we all know that you don’t actually have be dishonest with information or pass out incorrect information to mislead people as a result of not telling the full facts.

The final ruling from the environment court in effect is like the expert opinion and is exactly what it states i.e. the final description of the content of the plan change and cannot be changed without going through the whole planning process again but that still does not take away the responsibility from the Waikato Regional Council of voting to ratify and accept the plan change in its entirety.

This responsibility remains with the council and depending on the make-up of the council at the time of this vote, and the outcome of the vote in terms of numbers, the plan change could be rejected for any number of reasons.

Given the up-coming changes being made to the RMA legislation by the coalition government, I firmly believe that this would be the right decision.

If this plan change is implemented based on the Council’s own projections at the time it was promoted (ten years ago) it will cost the agricultural industry between 500 and 600 million dollars a year for the duration of the plan which is eighty years.

This is a cost that New Zealand and in fact the 40million people around the world that we supply food to, just cannot afford to pay.

We will go broke and they will either starve or purchase their food supply from a different supplier which will not have the same environmental standards which our food producers have to adhere to.

Definitely a lose/lose situation for the people and the world environment!