Dr Don Brash: Instead of fixing the RMA, Govt is perfecting the machinery of division

The following is written in Don's capacity as Hobson's Pledge Trustee.

A few weeks ago, Hobson’s Pledge sent the Government an Official Information Act (OIA) request concerning the Gore District Plan and its requirement that farmers and those using the land must assess their use against Ngāi Tahu's cultural values, such as mauri, wairua, whakapapa, and utu.

Elliot Ikilei: District plan means farmers will be extorted by the iwi mafia

Rural New Zealand is under siege from a planning system that is taking a leaf out of the Sopranos' book and turning productive farmland into a maze of red tape and mafia stand over tactics.

Farmers in Gore are staring down a new reality that before they dig a silage pit, build a shed, fix a farm track, or dozens of other everyday farming activities, resource consents must be assessed against Ngāi Tahu cultural values like mauri (life force), wairua (spiritual connections), whakapapa (relationships between all life forms), and utu (restoring balance).

Geoff Parker: The Gore Precedent

How a District Plan in Southland Could Change Land-Use Rules Across New Zealand

A planning dispute in the small Southland district of Gore may look like a local argument about farming rules.

In reality, it may represent something much bigger: a quiet shift in how land-use decisions are made across New Zealand.

Sites of significance to Maori - Gore district

The Gore District Plan proposes to classify the entire Gore District under the Sites and Areas of Significance to Maori part of Section 6 of the RMA - Laurie Paterson of Groundswell explains it

Peter Burke: Gloves off over Gore district plan

Provisions in the Gore District Council's proposed district plan could have a "chilling effect" on everyday farming activities.

That's the view of Southland Federated Farmers president, Jason Herrick, who says a section in the plan designates the whole district as a 'Site and Area of Significance (SAMS) to Māori’, rather than just identifying specific sites as is the case with the present plan.

Herrick says the implication of such a blanket approach will mean that no farming activity, however mundane, can take place without a cultural report being prepared. He says this is a highly unusual approach to handling iwi interests.