Hobson’s Pledge has always stood firmly for the protection of private property rights. When a major infrastructure project directly impacts local communities or land, it is completely right for legitimate, proportionate claims to be recognised and mitigated.
But what is happening right now with the Port of Tauranga expansion is not a defence of property rights. It is something else entirely.
A Tauranga-based hapū, Ngāti Kuku, is reportedly demanding $19 million annually in compensation as a condition for not opposing a planned expansion project. While mainstream media are saying this could amount to between $335 million and $475 million over the 35-year life of the project, doing the actual maths ($19 million x 35 years) is more like $665 million! No matter the actual amount, every one of these figures is huge.
To put that in perspective, the Port of Tauranga has already put a substantial $7 million offer on the table to address cultural and environmental impacts.
The hapū is not claiming a loss of their own property rights in any proportionate way. Instead, they are using the current RMA consultation system to extract an astronomical sum simply as a condition for “not opposing” a planned wharf extension.
We should know how many millions of dollars are paid out to Iwi and other groups just so they won’t object to a development. I would support a law change that requires any organisation seeking a consent to file an annual report detailing payments made to any organisation with regard to resource consent applications.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
4 comments:
The omly answer is to stop letting them object in the first place, apart from legitimate resource management grounds that are available to everyone else. No more "it tramples on our (non existent) mana."
Allowing iwi to sabotage the NZ economy, while being open about it, won't help. On the contrary, publicity about taxpayers" money going to one iwi will make all the others want more.
Just when are we going to call a halt to this 'legalized' extortion racket? You would have thought National would have addressed such in it's revision of the RMA - but, nah. They seem to condone this corruption, because they think they might lose some votes. How deluded is that?
Yes, 100%, how taxpayer money is spent should be disclosed to the voters.
Its just extortion by some maori, nothing else.
Perhaps reporting would apply some sunlight, but after-the-event reporting would also add insult to injury - i.e. more cost without any opportunity to contest the outcome. This iwi blackmail has to stop. Little wonder infrastructure is so expensive, productivity so low and overseas investment not exactly flooding onto our shores. Why invest in NZ and have all your pockets thoroughly picked by iwi corporates and their bevy of expensive shark lawyers? And our govt condones this. Successive govts have created the situation. The new RMA won’t change much. It just elevates iwi consultation up to national rather than local govt level, where they can keep it further from public view, like Luxon’s closed door meetings with the iwi leaders lobby group. Meanwhile, mainstream media and the likes of Bryce Edwards entertain the sheeple with the supposedly limitless evils of “big business”. It’s nuts, a farce - as though we’re living in our very own dystopian novel.
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