Point of Order: Govt eases the way through Customs and to buying building materials.....

.....but illegal timber imports are barred

The Government has made a prohibition pronouncement under a headline that makes a dubious claim about the snuffing of illegality. The headline says Government shuts door on illegally harvested timber.

Good-oh. With the door shut, there can be no way of getting our hands on illegally harvested timber because there is no way of it getting into the country – right?

Mike Butler: Waikato River clean-up awaited

A progress report, or should I say lack-of-progress report, on the much-vaunted project to clean up the Waikato River, released by the Waikato River Authority on March 22, 2016, gave the catchment a C+ rating.

Some may recall that the Waikato River Authority was set up six years as part of the Waikato River settlement. That deal involved a total of $422.8-million, with $212.8-million handed over to Waikato-Tainui, Te Arawa, Raukawa, Tuwharetoa, and Maniapoto, of which part of that amount was spread over 30 years.