But now the Stella Passage expansion has been approved under the Fast track Approvals Act, subject to strengthened conditions to address cultural impacts???
So now the Port of Tauranga will have to pay a mitigation package that includes more than $6 million in one-off payments and funds, alongside an ongoing annual payment.
It just proves if you Shoot for the Stars you can Land on a Mountain!
To me the independent panel’s fast-track approval of the Stella Passage expansion sends a loud, unmistakable message to the entire country’s tribes; extortion pays! Forcing the Port of Tauranga to hand over more than $6 million in up-front payouts, topped off with a permanent annual payment, proves that weaponising the planning system is New Zealand’s most lucrative racket.
Tribal elites may not have walked away with their initial, astronomical shakedown demand of $450 million, but a multi-million dollar consolation prize still delivers a massive payday for obstructing progress. It validates a corrupt blueprint where anyone blocking vital national infrastructure is guaranteed a massive corporate windfall just for holding a project to ransom.
The financial trajectory of this project proves that whether the Port of Tauranga wins or loses, the tribal grift always collects. During the initial Environment Court dispute, the port was slapped with a $298,023 penalty just for “wasted effort” after shelving its plans, which came on top of the $977,362.32 it had already spent bankrolling tribal legal fees, participation, and cultural expertise.
Now, under the fast-track process, that initial million-dollar bleeding has ballooned into a permanent toll gate, forcing the port to cough up a $6 million one-off package alongside a perpetual annual fee just to secure a rubber stamp. You have to wonder why the perpetual annual fee is not published!
This isn’t partnership or “expert consultation;” it’s government sanctioned financial compliance that rewards gridlock. By rubber-stamping these massive mitigation packages, the system ensures that corporate compliance looks less like resource management and more like standard mafia-style protection fees. As long as the government refuses to close these lucrative consultation loopholes, they guarantee that regular consumers will keep footing the bill while obstructionism remains the most profitable business model in New Zealand.
The spineless silence from the Beehive on this state-sanctioned protection racket speaks volumes about the complete lack of political courage in Wellington. Prime Minister Luxon remains frozen in perpetual awe of the Iwi Leaders Forum, completely content to let corporate shakedowns look like “innocent cost recovery” under his watch.
His coalition government has actively chosen to protect tribal elites and gridlock merchants while regular New Zealanders are left to bleed dry through higher energy bills, delayed roads, and expensive housing.
Despite ACT MP Cameron Luxton apparently spending the entire term sounding the alarm on this racket, the National led coalition has actively chosen to protect these lucrative consultation loopholes rather than kill the extortion stone dead. By remaining silently complicit, our government have proven they lack the backbone to confront tribal elites, effectively signing the check that forces taxpayers to bankroll this customized corruption through higher everyday costs!
Pee Kay writes he is from a generation where common sense, standards, integrity and honesty are fundamental attributes. This article was first published HERE
It just proves if you Shoot for the Stars you can Land on a Mountain!
To me the independent panel’s fast-track approval of the Stella Passage expansion sends a loud, unmistakable message to the entire country’s tribes; extortion pays! Forcing the Port of Tauranga to hand over more than $6 million in up-front payouts, topped off with a permanent annual payment, proves that weaponising the planning system is New Zealand’s most lucrative racket.
Tribal elites may not have walked away with their initial, astronomical shakedown demand of $450 million, but a multi-million dollar consolation prize still delivers a massive payday for obstructing progress. It validates a corrupt blueprint where anyone blocking vital national infrastructure is guaranteed a massive corporate windfall just for holding a project to ransom.
The financial trajectory of this project proves that whether the Port of Tauranga wins or loses, the tribal grift always collects. During the initial Environment Court dispute, the port was slapped with a $298,023 penalty just for “wasted effort” after shelving its plans, which came on top of the $977,362.32 it had already spent bankrolling tribal legal fees, participation, and cultural expertise.
Now, under the fast-track process, that initial million-dollar bleeding has ballooned into a permanent toll gate, forcing the port to cough up a $6 million one-off package alongside a perpetual annual fee just to secure a rubber stamp. You have to wonder why the perpetual annual fee is not published!
This isn’t partnership or “expert consultation;” it’s government sanctioned financial compliance that rewards gridlock. By rubber-stamping these massive mitigation packages, the system ensures that corporate compliance looks less like resource management and more like standard mafia-style protection fees. As long as the government refuses to close these lucrative consultation loopholes, they guarantee that regular consumers will keep footing the bill while obstructionism remains the most profitable business model in New Zealand.
The spineless silence from the Beehive on this state-sanctioned protection racket speaks volumes about the complete lack of political courage in Wellington. Prime Minister Luxon remains frozen in perpetual awe of the Iwi Leaders Forum, completely content to let corporate shakedowns look like “innocent cost recovery” under his watch.
His coalition government has actively chosen to protect tribal elites and gridlock merchants while regular New Zealanders are left to bleed dry through higher energy bills, delayed roads, and expensive housing.
Despite ACT MP Cameron Luxton apparently spending the entire term sounding the alarm on this racket, the National led coalition has actively chosen to protect these lucrative consultation loopholes rather than kill the extortion stone dead. By remaining silently complicit, our government have proven they lack the backbone to confront tribal elites, effectively signing the check that forces taxpayers to bankroll this customized corruption through higher everyday costs!
Pee Kay writes he is from a generation where common sense, standards, integrity and honesty are fundamental attributes. This article was first published HERE
7 comments:
I feel anger churning inside when I read these grifter stories. You know, how frustration turns to anger. We have suffered the frustration for three years. Christopher Luxon promised to sort this and it has got worse. We are angry about it.
The most hope rises in the East with the sun. Oh look, here comes David Seymour.
MC
Luxon has proved himself to be no different than the dreadful Labour Green Party that destructively introduced apartheid into NZ under the despots, Ardern/Hipkins. He and McClay even secretly embedded He Pau Pau (UNDRIP) into their disastrous Indian FTA.
Act Party Leader David Seymour sensibly frames his political platform around the concept of “One law for all”, which is refreshing different than Luxon’s political impotency.
If it this 'compensation' is so appropriate and fair, why isn't the justification, reasoning and cost more transparent and publicised?
You're right to face and call it for what it is - "extortion".
There is very little to no goodwill displayed by 'Maori', so why in the face of this racketeering do we continue to allow our politicians to give away a great many times this amount to the upgrading and maintenance of things like marae? And, NO - the 'gifting' of names is not goodwill. It's nothing other than unearned aggrandisement and promotion.
It's well past time these Maori entities fully justified their demands and started pulling their own weight and that can start by them being treated the same tax-wise as everyone else. Given an inch, they'll take a mile every time.
But there is never any funding for a nationwide screening program for Prostate cancer which would benefit thousands of men.
Any legislation that includes race-based 'considerations' violates a critical aspect of the rule of law which requires that legal rights and influence depend on the nature of an activity and its impacts, not on who is involved. At essence we have have dozens of laws in NZ today which themselves violate this rule of law, fostering treaty based litigation at industrial scale. Daily bread for fat-cat lawyers and activist judges!
"Extortion pays" - You bet, especially when it has the tacit support of our incumbent PM.
Extortion is the crime or practice of getting money, property, or services from a person through force, intimidation, threats of violence, or the abuse of official power.
According to standard references like the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term comes from a Latin word meaning "to twist out," describing how a person twists or squeezes someone until they hand over what is wanted.
Can we twist Luxon at the coming election to do what we want because he has frittered away three years and achieved little of what I suspect most of us wanted from our National led (that's a bloomin' joke) coalition? IMHO it has been led by the Iwi Chairs!
What are these government sanctioned blackmailers going to do with their ransom ?
Something good for all of the community ?
Something beneficial for just the part Maori community ?
Or just laugh loudly and spend it on their own pleasure while claiming to be underprivileged and deserving of more public largesse ?
Luxon promised to fix this sort of bullshit - now he approves it, because he doesn't condem it , or even express any opinion.
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.