Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: Time for an Intervention

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  • recordari,

    Despite your apparent insistence on offending Rangi girls

    Is that even possible?

    [Scuttling sound as runs under nearby foliage]

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    The worst of which was from Megan

    I maintain my innocence due to her locked tweetvironment

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    [Scuttling sound as runs under nearby foliage]

    No need to run, dude. We know where to find you...

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    No need to run, dude. We know where to find you...

    I'm changing my name and moving to Palmerston North. Oh, damn, you know who lives there too...

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Littlewood,

    And you'd like Matthew Littlewood, but he's only in Timaru on much the same conditions Russell was.

    Russell did PD in Timaru?

    The judge assigned me to being the regional council and the environment reporter for the Timaru Herald. It's an extended sentence.

    (I will not bad-mouth Timaru on this thread, partly because I value and enjoy both my job and my life. You never know who in the Aoraki mafia might be reading this. )

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Matthew, any stories you could link us to about the ECan situation that you'd consider locally well-informed? Has been interesting watching it unfold after our brief conversation in Kingsland that day (proof that you get let out from time to time).

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Littlewood,

    Thanks Sacha- I really enjoyed that afternoon too- I think, actually, the best piece summing up the situation as it stands, would be Paul Gorman's "Who Killed ECan?" feature which was published in a weekend edition of the Press last month. Hopefully your local library will have it on file. And as Emma alluded to, Sam Mahon's The Water Thieves has some of the historical political background as well.


    If you're wanting to get to grips with the water issue specifically as it relates to the Mackenzie/South Canterbury, then, loathe as I am to link my own work this is a good backgrounder of the two "sides" and their points of view-and yes, I know it's not as black and white as that- but there are word limits to deal with etc.

    There are other issues swirling in the background, not least the fact the territorial authorities in South Canterbury and Christchurch have frequently expressed their desire to form a "breakaway" authorities to replace ECan.

    As an aside, I find it a bit ironic that television (well, TV 1 and TV 3) only gets interested in covering the regional council now. I think you can count one hand how many ECan meetings they attended in the last two years- even the ODT's coverage of ECan has been more comprehensive in that time*. It might just be down to the fact that they're both short-staffed, and usually, council meetings don't make for good visuals (unless you drag a coffin into the middle of the chambers).

    *thanks to the strange boundaries, the Waitaki falls between the rulings of both the ORC and ECan, which can make it a bit of a logistical nightmare.

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Ta for the backgrounder. I understand the action is mainly being driven by big corporate farmers. We know that if they bend the rules (and getting the government to sack a neighbouring regional Council and trashing the WCO system is success in anyone's language) then it puts pressure on everyone else to race to the bottom, environmentally speaking. White gold in them dun hills.

    Seems that the famers seeking water believe that they have every right to farm in what they describe as a desert, that without them the land would somehow be worse off - and that despite failure everywhere else it is somehow possible to "balance" their greed with the sustainability of the environment that feeds the area's more future-oriented tourism industry, let alone the most basic viability of the land they profess to love. Dangerous plonkers.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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