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.