Focus on New Zealand

There used to be a time when New Zealand never made the foreign media – because we were once a reasonably hormonious and peaceful country, Now New Zealand has been in the headlines on RT, both today and yesterday – and not for any reasons that one would like

New Zealand, like all its anglophone cousins, now has a liberal/corporate fascist government that practises crony capitalism and is destroying what remains of a civil society.

Apart from oil drilling the major threats to the survival of Maui's dolphins are "entanglement in gillnets and capture by inshore trawl fisheries. These are estimated to be responsible for over 95% of all Maui's dolphin mortalities. 

"Other potential threats include boat strike, pollution, mining, oil and gas exploration and activity, accoustic disturbance and coastal development".

New Zealand govt accused of opening world's rarest dolphin's habitat to oil & gas drilling

Maui's dolphin (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

RT,

18 June, 2014

The New Zealand government is insisting that the endangered Maui dolphin is not at risk after it signed off 3,000 square kilometers of a marine mammal sanctuary off the North Island’s west coast for oil and gas drilling

Documents released to the New Zealand Green Party show that the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary, home to the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin, was part of New Zealand’s waters that has been signed off to drill for oil and gas, New Zealand’s 3 News reports.

Documents, seen by 3 News, show that the Department of Conservation had highlighted that 3,000 square kilometers overlap into the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary but the area was still signed off for drilling.

“I think primarily once you go from exploration right through to production, you’re not jeopardizing the wildlife,” said Simon Bridges, the Minister of Energy and Resources.

The co-leader of the Green Party Russel Norman accused Bridges of being happy “to kill some more”dolphins with oil exploration.

But Nick Smith, the Conservation Minister, insisted that the drilling will be taking place “nowhere near where the Maui’s live.”

“There hasn’t been a single observation of a Maui’s dolphin, and the oil and gas industry hasn’t been involved in a single Maui’s dolphin incident in Taranaki over the past 40 years, despite 23 wells being drilled,” Smith told parliament Wednesday.

The Maui’s Dolphin is the world’s rarest and the smallest; there are estimated to be just 55 adults left off New Zealand’s North Island and they are seriously threatened by fishing and disease.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has called on the government to do more to protect the dolphins.

“We need to be doing more to save the last 55 Maui’s dolphins, not exposing them to further risks from seismic surveying for oil exploration. The government’s failure to fully protect Maui’s dolphins from net-fishing across their range is already putting them at risk of extinction,” said Peter Hardstaff, head of campaigns at WWF.

The International Whaling Commission also said it has “extreme concern” about the decline in Maui’s dolphins.

Coverage from the local press

Maui's dolphin sanctuary in oil drilling move - Greens

The Government has opened up for oil drilling more than 3000 square kilometres of a marine mammal sanctuary - home to the critically endangered Maui's dolphin, the Green Party says.

Stuff

18 June, 2014

Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said documents obtained under the Official Information Act showed the Government included more than 3000sqkm of the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary in the competitive tender for petroleum exploration permits, known as Block Offer 2014.

The area, home to both the Hector's and Maui's dolphins, was declared a sanctuary in 2008 as part of the threat management plan to protect the species.

Last week, the International Whaling Commission published a report slating Nationals' management changes as "inadequate" to stop the Maui's dolphin becoming extinct.

"The International Whaling Commission is calling for even greater protections for Maui's dolphins - this National government is putting these beautiful dolphins at greater risk of extinction," Norman said.

Only 55 Maui's dolphins are thought to remain. They can only be found in New Zealand.

"The Government should stop putting the short-term interest of a few mining companies ahead of the thousands and thousands of New Zealanders who love and want to protect the endangered Maui's dolphin," Norman said.

His comments come as a decision is expected from the Environmental Protection Authority today on whether an iron-sand mining development will be allowed in the same Taranaki waters where the Maui's dolphins are found.

If given the green light the Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) operation would cover an area of 65.76sqkm off of Patea.

TTR proposes to extract up to 50 million tonnes of sediment a year and process it aboard a floating processing storage and offloading vessel.

About 5 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate would be exported.

But Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges today dismissed the Greens' concerns.

"There's negligible effect from petroleum [exploration] on Maui's dolphins," Bridges said, saying there had been no recorded deaths from the industry in 40 years.

About 95 per cent of threats to Maui's dolphins come from fishing, with set nets identified as the biggest threat.

"The Government's got a proud record on Maui's Dolphins," Bridges said.

"We've extended the set-net ban for fishing, and the marine mammal sanctuary area.

"But what the Greens are basically suggesting is that an area that's had petroleum development for over 40 years without incident should be shut down, and that's not correct and I don't think that's what anyone wants."

Bridges said raising concerns about seismic testing was "probably the best point [the Greens] can make", but he claimed there should not be concerns about the process, with a mandatory code of conduct for testing requiring marine experts aboard all vessels.

Information on Maui's dolphins from WWF

Elsewhere, as we have mentioned before, the government is opening up a pristine forest park, Victoria Forest Park, in the South Island.

The minister who signed the deal off had not even heard of the park!

Here is a report from TV3 that has been the only NZ media outlet to give this coverage. Kudos to John Campbell.

Locals speak out on oil drilling in Victoria Forest Park

Rock climber, Duffys Creek, Victoria 
Forest Park

Yesterday it was announced that the Government has opened up more than 3,000 square kilometres of a marine mammal sanctuary for oil and gas exploration.

That decision has prompted questions about which areas are opened up for prospecting, and why?

One area is Victoria Forest Park in the South Island - the man who signed it off was Energy Minister Simon Bridges.

But soon after the announcement it was discovered that Mr Bridges had never even heard of the park.

So what is this forest park like, and is there really any oil?

Reporter Dan Parker travelled to the West Coast to find out how the people who spend time in it feel about the decision to drill.

Watch the full report

Meanwhile the Minister of Conservation (sic) has given the green light to an Australian mining company to start work on a coal mining project despite the fact that coal prices are 'depressed'' internationally and state-owned Solid Energy is heavily in debt and has made more workers redundant and reduced its activity by a quarter

Green light for Denniston mining

Final permission has been given for work to start on a controversial mining project on the Denniston Plateau. Building work could start in two weeks, but it will be smaller than first planned.

Radio New Zealand,

19 June, 2014

Conservation Minister Nick Smith granted an access agreement for Bathurst Resources to build an open-cast coal mine on the West Coast in May last year.

On Wednesday, the Department of Conservation gave the Australian company the go-ahead to start work.

Bathurst Resources will have to reapply with DoC to continue operating the mine after six months, and each year thereafter.

Dr Smith said the company was going to give $22 million over five years to compensate for environmental damage, but that would now be spread over seven years.

Because the international price of coal remains low, Bathurst said it would mine less than a third of the proposed area to begin with and extend to full capacity when the price rises.

The first two years of production has been reduced from 62.2 hectares to 19.3 hectares, and amount of coal extracted reduced from 558 kilotons to 75 kilotons.

Bathursts' managing director Hamish Bohannan said it would begin mining for the domestic market and start exporting when the price of coal is higher.

Mr Bohannan said getting permission for the mine has been a longer process than anticipated. Work is scheduled to begin on 1 July this year.

_{Solid Energy cuts 137 jobs at Stockton Mine}

6 June

Solid Energy has confirmed job cuts at its Stockton Mine on the West Coast, as international coal prices continue to slump.

At a meeting this afternoon, the company confirmed 137 of the mine's 521 jobs will be axed.

It also plans to reduce the number of contractors it employs on-site, shedding around 50 contract jobs, and bring the work in-house for existing staff.

"We are going to lose families, we are going to lose skills and some very good people," says Buller District Mayor Garry Howard. "We really feel for those particular people at the present time."

Solid Energy chief executive Dan Clifford says the mine's production will be reduced by a quarter, from 1.9 million tonnes per annum to 1.4 million in the next financial year.

He blames the losses on a slump in international coal prices, which have fallen from US$330 per tonne in 2011 to US$120 per tonne today.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Solid-Energy-cuts-137-jobs-at-Stockton-Mine/tabid/423/articleID/347409/Default.aspx#ixzz3529PKBjH

As far as this govenment is concerned, forget alternative energy, forget public transport.

All their energy is directed towards helping their friends in the road transport industry.

Crony capitalism at work

National plans to spend billions on roads

National is proposing to spend billions over the next decade on the country's roads, prompting opposition parties to accuse the Government of being stuck in the past.

Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee has released the Government's draft land transport policy statement, showing an emphasis on the country's road network at the expense of public transport and walking and cycling initiatives.

Brownlee said the proposal continued National's focus on "economic growth and productivity, road safety and value for money".

The $38.7 billion would be spent on building and maintaining roading networks that were "critical" to the country's economic performance, as well as on road safety and walking, cycling and public transport initiatives.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10162805/Opposition-parties-slate-land-transport-plan

Politically, the Labour Party has been engulfed by a new crisis ("a storm in a tea party") which demonstrates how the incumbant fascists are able (with the help of the media) manufacture consent for their criminal, crony capitalist government.

It also demonstrates that Labour is not substantally different from National and that we are increasingly unlikely to see a change of govenment in the coming election which was cunningly announced early by the government to exploit the difficulties of the opposition.

We live in dark times and events will be manipulated to ensure the incumbent government get to further their agenda.

Welcome to liberal/corporate fascism

Poll adds to Labour woes

Subliminal messages: Notice how the New  Zealand Herald places a confident, 'smiling' Key next to an angry Cunliffe

A poor result on a new political poll has added to Labour's woes today.

Labour has dropped six percentage points to 23 per cent in the stuff.co.nz/Ipsos political poll. National rose to 56 per cent - a result that would let them govern without a coalition partner.

The polling took place early in the week before the revelation that David Cunliffe wrote a letter in support of Donghua Liu's residency application in 2003.

The poll showed results for Mr Cunliffe as preferred prime minister slipped two percentage points to 11 per cent, while results for Prime Minister John Key to remain as prime minister rose three points to 51.4 per cent.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11277146

Key on Liu-Labour link: More to come

Prime Minister John Key believes the Labour has a lot more than $15,000 in donations from wealthy Chinese political donor Donghua Liu.

He also acknowledged he had known for some weeks that Labour leader David has written a letter supporting Mr Liu's application for residency.

The release of the letter yesterday in the face of denials from Mr Cunliffe that he wrote any such letter has thrown his leadership into crisis.

It followed revelations earlier this week that Mr Liu donated $15,000 to Labour in 2007.

It did not show up in the donations register although that may have been lawful at the time.

A new poll will fuel Labour's crisis, with the Stuff.co.nz/Ipsos poll today recording a 6 point plunge by Labour to 23 per cent.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11277098

Meanwhile a very dangerous legal precedent has been set whereby a book on Kim Dotcom, written by a journalist, is deemed not to be journalism - and therefore not subject to laws protecting journalists' sources

Privacy ruling on Dotcom research

The High Court has ruled that research material used for a book about internet businessman Kim Dotcom is not protected by the Privacy Act, because the book is not journalism.

Radio New Zealand,

19 June, 2014

The Crown wants access to research material from a book called The Secret Life of Kim Dotcom as it prepares a court case against the internet businessman.

Normally, journalists' research material is protected from Privacy Act requests, but Justice Winkelmann found the exemption only covers news articles and programmes, not books.

The book's author, David Fisher, says he is astonished by the ruling and worries it will have a chilling effect on journalism.

Media lawyer, Ursula Cheer agrees the Privacy Act has a narrow definition of news.

But she says the ruling only applies to information held about people already involved in court cases.

Justice Winkelmann ruled Kim Dotcom should ask for the research material and, if relevant, supply it to the Crown

More on the political shenannigans

David Cunliffe says he has full caucus support

Beleaguered Labour Party leader David Cunliffe is sure he has the support of his colleagues despite revelations over a letter on behalf of controversial businessman Donghua Liu.

Mr Cunliffe told reporters at Wellington Airport on Thursday morning he had no intention of quitting the leadership, and later told Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon programme he had the full support of his caucus.

"Because media have been asking the question, I double-checked," he said. "We are a unified team and we're going forward to win this election."

Mr Cunliffe said it was technically possible under Labour's constitution that he could be rolled in a caucus-only vote, but he thinks that's unlikely and he won't be putting it to the test.

"The reason for that is people are well aware that that kind of change so close to an election would be extremely damaging to Labour's chances and a lot more people would be worrying about their own place."

It was revealed on Wednesday that Mr Cunliffe wrote to the Immigration Service in 2003 on behalf of Donghua Liu. A day earlier the Labour leader had said he had never advocated on behalf of the Auckland property developer.

But Mr Cunliffe said his electorate office had failed to find the letter and told him he had had no involvement with the businessman. He said the letter made it clear that he did not advocate on Mr Liu's behalf, but simply asked if the businessman could be told how long his application would take.

Mr Cunliffe told Nine to Noon the timing of the release of the letter under an Official Information Act request was "interesting" and that "people were primed to ask questions".

Former party president Mike Williams earlier rejected suggestions that Mr Cunliffe's leadership was now damaged beyond repair, saying the latest reveleation was a storm in a teacup.

"Having said that, it's not a good look and he's been let down by his staff," he told Morning Report.

A Fairfax/Ipsos poll published on Thursday showed a 6 point drop in support for the party, down to 23 percent, compared with National on just over 56 percent. Two major polls at the end of May had the party on about 30 percent support.

Mr Williams said apart from Thursday's poll, Labour had been doing better than at the same time in the last cycle, but if the trend continued in larger polls there could be a panic reaction in caucus and a leadership challenge would be possible.

"If the polls continue around low 20s that will become a possibility because at that point you've got people losing their seats and nothing focuses the mind of an MP more than the thought of losing their seat."

Under Labour Party rules, MPs can vote out a leader without triggering a party-wide contest during a 90-day pre-election period, which begins on Friday.

Some of Mr Cunliffe's senior MPs said he still has their confidence. Former Labour leader Phil Goff said there was nothing wrong with the letter Mr Cunliffe wrote, that he was not doing it for favours, nor was there anything inappropriate. Deputy leader David Parker told reporters Mr Cunliffe had done nothing wrong.

Andrew Little and Nanaia Mahuta have ruled out a change of Labour leadership before the election and Jacinda Ardern told Radio New Zealand Mr Cunliffe has her full confidence and support. Other Labour MPs including Grant Robertson, Trevor Mallard, Annette King have not returned messages or not commented.

'Future rests with caucus'

But the Government said Mr Cunliffe will have a hard time convincing the public his word can be trusted.

Finance Minister Bill English said Mr Cunliffe's future rested with his caucus. Mr English told Morning Report that MPs don't remember everything they do, and the question for Mr Cunliffe's caucus colleagues is whether they believe his explanation or not.

One problem for the Labour Party leader is that he has repeatedly attacked the National Party over its links to Mr Liu, who is due to be sentenced on domestic violence charges in August.

Maurice Williamson was forced to resign as a minister in May this year after it was revealed that he had rung police about the charges Liu faced. As well, the businessman made a substantial donation to National, which prompted accusations of cronynism from Labour.

Prime Minister John Key said Mr Cunliffe would have to decide if he will judge himself by the same standards of accountability he has been so vocal about for government ministers.

John Key said people genuinely make mistakes in politics, but Mr Cunliffe has often not accepted that and has called for the heads of national ministers over similar issues.

Mr Key said even if Mr Cunliffe had initially forgotten the interaction with Liu, he should have investigated better when the matter came under scrutiny.