The policies create powerlessness and kill community

By Malcolm Campbell.

In issue 1070 of The Informer, Tuesday, 5th September an observation by Lee Short (spokesperson for Gulf Users Group) illustrates that the present Labour Government quick-fire legislation has been implemented with no consultation with the people affected by this legislation, The Gulf Users. This overbearing type of legislation, to remind everyone, has been driven visibly since 1980 and ties in with the words of Victor Schauberger who said, “the authorities will not change their ways until catastrophe occurs.”

The catastrophe is already very well developed with ample evidence of exceptionally poor environmental health in the water (fresh and salt water) and on the land. For example, why are the crayfish, the mussel spat, Godwit numbers falling? Why on land, are the waterfowl with botulism, the trout numbers shrinking and even the whitebait numbers falling?

Here is another view of ‘the top-down planning’ but from this time an Australian, Max Fehring, who was once Chairman of the Victorian Dairy Farmers Union. Max was awarded a scholarship and was a Churchill Fellow to enable him to study the use and employment of ‘water resources world-wide’. Max was approached when there were grave doubts about where the environment was heading with the Resource Management Act. Many people will be aware that the Northern Victorian State Border is essentially the path of the great Murray River. The Murray is critically important for irrigation, recreation, tourism, transport and fishing. This river, in many ways, is a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people.

After studying use of water all over the world, the fundamental bottom line was that Max confirmed, ‘Top-down planning does not work and will never work” and already his prophetic words are ringing true particularly as he adds that “enforcement action will follow”. The enforcement action is already happening with helicopter surveillance over the Waikato and this year in Southland ‘spying on the farming community to ascertain if they are complying with top-down planning’. Is this New Zealand? Or is it some new age version of a top-down Dictatorship?

Max Fehring went on to say, that ideally, any plan had to be developed by the ‘community’. He said that the best natural area was a river catchment where there was a likelihood of common interests where there were boaties, irrigators, fishermen, farmers and townspeople. All of these people had to sit round a table to debate the issue and put forward their particular views to come to understand each other’s viewpoints.

We did have Catchment Boards. Why were they abolished? Was it to remove the influence of ‘community’ and input from ordinary people who go about their daily business trying to make a success of their lives? The word Community has been used many times in this very paper, but has been further and further removed from decision making - (see the comments from residents in the Cooks beach community re the placement of a cell tower). It is irrefutable that none of this planning has improved the seaside, the fresh water, the soils, not anything at all. And the people who authorised this contagious situation are trying to repair it by more of the same.

Albert Einstein said, ‘The people who created the problem will not solve the problem.” Now have a laugh; it's election time. Somerset Maughan said, ‘The trouble with political jokes is that we elect them.”

Caption: Malcolm Campbell and his plane.