If you have been wondering what damage the undemocratic Regulatory Standards Bill might cause to the enivironment in our country, you need look no further than what is already happening in the Wharekirauponga forest in the Coromandel.
The Canadian owned mining company OceanaGold plans to dig a tunnel 7 kilometres long and 6 metres high under a section of the forest valley all the way to Waihi in order to mine for gold and silver.
It is one of the 149 initial projects on the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Act list, allowing OceanaGold to mine on DOC administered land and skip the normal environmental and legal protection procedures in order to do so.
Test drilling has already begun and local residents have been denied the opportunity to legitimately raise their concerns through the normal democratic process.
So I went to the Wharekirauponga to meet with Suzanne Clegg and Clive Duxfield of Earthwatch Whangamata and recorded, on location, the interview I have posted today, in which they give voice to their concerns about what OceanaGold intend to do .
So much for the perils of the Fast-Track Legislation.
Enter the Regulatory Standards Bill !
If this mining project goes ahead, then a later government would be hamstrung to do anything to limit it, because under the proposed Regulatory Standards legislation OceanGold would potentially be able to sue the government for billions of dollars of projected loss of profits .
It’s a lose -lose, neoliberal, blind greed driven situation.
98% of the profits will go offshore, and our democracy, not just a native forest with its diverse animal life, will be seriously undermined.
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