Public’s right to stop oil drilling must be protected

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The Daily Blog
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Source: Mana Movement – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Public’s right to stop oil drilling must be protected

“Not only is the government giving overseas oils giants an open invite to drill and mine our seas, they now want the deals kept secret from the public” says Hone Harawira, MANA leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau.

The government has tabled a proposal to enable oil and gas exploration applications to go through the Environmental Protection Agency as “non-notified” which would mean that the public isn’t notified and isn’t able to get to have a say.

“The government knows that most New Zealanders don’t want oil drilling – and this is their latest trick to try to keep us in the dark.

“We have to fight this; we have to be able to know what’s being planned in our waters.

“They’ve already banned us from being able to protest against oil drilling out at sea by turning it into a criminal act, and now they want to stop us from being able to question the paperwork that signs it off as well. Democracy? It sounds more and more like a dirty dictatorship to me.

“John Key is determined to not only bludgeon the poor, but also our seas, our fish, our beaches to keep his filthy rich mates on top – the very same mates that fund the National Party to keep them in power.

“Each of us needs to ask, where’s it all going to stop?

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

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The claims and opinions made in this statement are those of the release organisation and are not necessarily endorsed by, and are not necessarily those of, The Daily Blog. Also in no event shall The Daily Blog be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on the above release content.

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1 COMMENT

  1. “John Key is determined to not only bludgeon the poor, but also our seas, our fish, our beaches to keep his filthy rich mates on top – the very same mates that fund the National Party to keep them in power.”

    Good one Hone. It needed to be said, that it is said by you, possibly the greatest Maori leader in a generation, is significant. This attack on New Zealanders rights to protect our marine environment from being treacherously handed over to foreign mulit-national companies for oil and gas exploration, began with, and is a continuation of, the Foreshore and Seabed Act. The FSA is a treacherous and racist piece of legislation, without which this latest piece of treachery could not be committed. What most Pakeha New Zealanders didn’t recognise then, but should now, is that Maori were then and are now the Kaitiaki of our shared natural environment. Maori were in the lead in defeating Petrobras plan to drill in Raukumara, Maori are the leaders in plans to oppose the destructive mining of the Northland, (your home territory). Maori are also the leaders in opposing Fonterra’s plans to tear up the Whenua in Mangatangi for an open cast coal mine. Maori have been in the lead in all these struggles to protect this country from being despoiled by greed.

    I only have one criticism. In your statement, you never mentioned the greatest environmentally destructive act of all, which all these others feed into, which threatens not just the future of this country, but the future of whole world.

    What your statement didn’t mention was climate change. The political party that takes up that Take will become the leading party in New Zealand. (maybe not in parliament, but in every other forum that counts)

    Polls show that over 60 percent of New Zealanders want our government to do more to fight climate change. A huge constituency is being ignored by our biggest political parties.

    Out of fear of the oil/gas companies, or the unions who represent those who work for them. Both Labour and National are not addressing this massive constituency and they are both leaning on the Greens to do the same.

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