Greenpeace says the information released by the Government today shows how deeply compromised the whole fast track process is and that environmental protection is totally overridden.
Russel Norman says, “It’s like a sordid game of twister between Shane Jones, Simeon Brown and Chris Bishop as they try to avoid all their conflicts of interest in approving fast track projects.
“With National, Act and New Zealand First parties having received half a million dollars in campaign donations from fast track project companies and shareholders, it is no surprise that managing the conflicts of interest was such a mess.
“In fact, it was so complicated that they seem to have failed because Shane Jones said he would recuse himself from decisions related to Trans Tasman Resources seabed mining, but there’s no mention of that.”
Earlier in the year, Greenpeace recorded Shane Jones saying that he was the minister of fisheries as well as mining and natural resources and so had stood aside from the seabed mining project so there could be no allegation that he favoured mining or favoured fisheries.
“New Zealanders will be appalled that the Advisory Panel report is clear that they did not consider the environmental consequences of the projects they were sending for rubber stamping. This reflects the priorities of the fast track legislation itself.
The full Advisory Group report has now been published by the Ministry for the Environment. It provides the full list of the 384 projects that applied to be listed in the Fast-track Approvals Bill, and the Advisory Group’s recommendation for each project.
Greenpeace occupied the Straterra building last month in a protest against the possibility of its client’s Trans-Tasman Resources seabed mining project being included. The action resulted in several arrests, but Greenpeace says it was a sign of things to come and “a demonstration of the resistance promised” in the recently published open letter to all companies considering using the Fast Track Approvals process, which has since increased from 7,500 signatories to over 14,000.
Seabed mining is a new threat to the oceans. Now is our chance to prevent the destruction before it’s too late.
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