Public Address | Cafe | Envirologue: Swamp Monsters – the Looting of Northland’s Sunken Assets

Alfie

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 10:57:47 +1200

A quick update to this thread, because the usual perps are involved. Not content with vandalising Northland, looting swamp kauri and rupturing fuel pipelines, they've moved on to wreaking havoc on West Coast conservation land.

Oravida. Destroying paradise, one piece at a time. It's what we do.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/06/02/1079363/rehabilitated-conservation-mine-a-desolate-wasteland

Rosemary McDonald

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 23:57:11 +1200

Even the expert experts struggled...

Both experts pointed to the fluidity of definitions of art and the wide range of activity, material and outcome that can be recognised as constituting art, in a curatorial view. Neither felt it would be possible to provide a firm set of guidelines for confirming…

Alfie

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 06:47:29 +1200

Nah. It seems that Te Uru Rākau — the Ministry for Primary Industry's forestry arm — gets to decide what is art and what’s a just a great hunk of kauri. The same people who have been rubber stamping illegal kauri exports for years are still running the show.

Log…

Rosemary McDonald

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 13:51:30 +1300

A win!!!

Well done Fiona and team.

A table top, which was not a product in its own right, could not be exported and logs with surface carving were unlikely to meet the definition, the court ruled.

Katharine Moody

Fri, 22 Sept 2017 18:00:16 +1200

This is going to get very, very interesting.

Just as is this;

https://croakingcassandra.com/2017/09/22/a-story-of-two-attorneys-general/

Rosemary McDonald

Fri, 22 Sept 2017 17:15:58 +1200

And now, on Natrad, Pictures!!!!

Clearly showing damage done by a digger….

OTOH, could be the exit hole of an Alien….

I have followed this closely through msm, and so far there I’ve seen about seven different accounts from ‘locals’ and ‘experts’.

Most interesting were the ones from the first…

Alfie

Fri, 22 Sept 2017 15:35:53 +1200

Hmmm. The Dom Post was ready to run a story attributing responsibility for the swamp kauri fiasco, but the story was mysteriously spiked yesterday. Now why would that be?

Alfie

Wed, 20 Sept 2017 14:39:33 +1200

I'm surprised that someone in the MSM hasn't picked up on this connection. Yet.

And an interesting thing. If you drill down through Oravida-related companies, director Shi Stone has 14 companies with the word "kauri" in their registered name. Ownership of these seems to weave through a variety of holding…

Katharine Moody

Wed, 20 Sept 2017 14:20:41 +1200

And not to be missed;

https://twitter.com/rodemmerson/status/910221014793019393

Katharine Moody

Wed, 20 Sept 2017 14:09:44 +1200

Isn’t it funny how dots sometimes mysteriously conspire to join up.

Another dot in the series – confirmation from Lloyds that the digger did it.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/97041095/damaged-auckland-fuel-pipeline-may-have-been-waiting-to-break-since-2014

dave stewart

Wed, 20 Sept 2017 12:56:54 +1200

Could be this you were looking for:
http://thejackalman.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/collins-and-swamp-kauri-petrol-crisis.html

Rob Stowell

Tue, 19 Sept 2017 23:00:37 +1200

The spill attributed to kauri excavation is in Ruakaka, and there’s a company called Kauri Ruakaka Ltd. By a strange twist of fate, that company used to be known as Oravida Kauri Ltd.
I'm waiting for the cowpoo to hit the rotor blades, somehow, soon – but it's strangely quiet.…

Alfie

Tue, 19 Sept 2017 11:25:34 +1200

Ironically, also with a strange link to the Minister charged with fronting and sorting the mess.

A very strange link Hillary. The spill attributed to kauri excavation is in Ruakaka, and there's a company called Kauri Ruakaka Ltd. By a strange twist of fate, that company used to be known…

Rosemary McDonald

Tue, 19 Sept 2017 11:15:20 +1200

Ironically, also with a strange link to the Minister charged with fronting and sorting the mess.

Hmmm....I've had a wee gumbeat over on TS about this...I smell a number of rats decomposing in the swamp on this latest incident. The pipeline practically forms the eastern boundary of the big log…

Hilary Stace

Tue, 19 Sept 2017 10:17:21 +1200

I’ve seen a few references to this informative post in recent days.

Who would have thought that the kauri would come back and bite in the last week of an election campaign? Ironically, also with a strange link to the Minister charged with fronting and sorting the mess.

Rosemary McDonald

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 18:34:19 +1200

Northland Environmental Protection Society takes MPI to Court this month over what we allege is the illegal export of swamp kauri. 25th/26th July in the Auckland High Court.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/82407475/swamp-kauri-case-in-auckland-high-court

Rosemary McDonald

Sun, 24 Jul 2016 17:19:00 +1200

Top Energy refuses to sell swamp kauri

Far North power generator Top Energy has turned down overseas offers to buy swamp kauri on its land near Kaikohe.

Instead it is moving to protect it.

The lines company owns wetlands around its geothermal power stations at Ngawha, where ancient logs lie…

Fiona Mackenzie

Fri, 08 Jul 2016 08:29:00 +1200

Northland Environmental Protection Society takes MPI to Court this month over what we allege is the illegal export of swamp kauri. 25th/26th July in the Auckland High Court.

izogi

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 21:55:41 +1300

More on Checkpoint from earlier this evening.

From the other side they seem to be arguing that he spent lots of time “not being responsive and communicative, and failing to show up to important meetings about his job” while the regional council “tried to act with sensitivity and acted as…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 17:40:40 +1300

more blind 'Justice'
The Employment Relations Authority has dismissed the claims of Michael Nager, an environmental monitoring officer who said he was bullied by the council and unjustifiably dismissed.
Mr Nager was attacked and had bleach thrown in his eyes in June 2013, while on his way to court to…

Rosemary McDonald

Mon, 28 Sept 2015 16:20:44 +1300

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11520082

Fiona Mackenzie

Mon, 14 Sept 2015 10:12:24 +1200

I will keep you up to date with what NEPs is doing. Evidence of timber overseas is everywhere on the net. The Ombudsman also found in our favour. MPI must hand over more information on our OIAs. Still waiting. Where is all the timber from the illegal mining sites. As…

Sofie Bribiesca

Sun, 13 Sept 2015 14:36:16 +1200

Glad someone did. Thanks for that.Would be interested if you are keeping abreast of this as to any further updates. As I'd assume others here would too.

Fiona Mackenzie

Sun, 13 Sept 2015 13:09:14 +1200

The Northland Environmental Protection Society filed action in the Auckland High Court on Friday 11th September against MPI and Customs over their interpretation of the 1949 Forestry Act. We will allow the Court to decide on the legality of the export of Swamp Kauri.

Alfie

Fri, 11 Sept 2015 09:47:17 +1200

Auditor-General Lyn Provost has released her report into the MPI rubber-stamping the illegal export of swap kauri on a massive scale. And guess what.
...she had seen "no evidence that the Ministry is allowing the export of illegal timber or timber products".

So that's alright then.

Moving right along folks.…

Rosemary McDonald

Sun, 06 Sept 2015 09:36:15 +1200

While waiting to capture the swamp kauri log on the back of the truck, we waited in the grounds of the Ancient Kauri Kingdom in Awanui.

The above carved log is in their entrance.

It would have been rude not to go inside and at least buy a couple of…

Rosemary McDonald

Sat, 05 Sept 2015 15:32:43 +1200

And to add insult to injury, maybe, to the Kaimaumau Wetlands, the plan is to revive Peat Mining.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/282933/northland-iwi-looks-at-peat-mining-proposal

Locals know nothing about this latest project, but some remember the last time the peat was mined and how the process left the land unproductive for years afterwards.

This company plans…

Rosemary McDonald

Sat, 05 Sept 2015 15:20:46 +1200

Another log heads south from Paparore.

Alfie

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 10:30:44 +1200

The Herald exposes the sheer volume of swap kauri being exported and claims this has jumped "more than 2500 per cent in five years."
In 2009, 173 cubic metres of swamp kauri was legally exported. That increased to 1150 cubic metres in 2013, before sky-rocketing to 4356 cubic metres last year.…

Joe Wylie

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 10:20:00 +1200

Christine Murdoch from July 6.

Alfie

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 09:21:34 +1200

Another kauri comment from Garrick Tremain.

Alfie

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:41:18 +1200

Hand-wringing from Nathan Guy.
Hmmm. Methinks there will be some new jobs created in the Far North... for Maori carvers who work fast and don't chisel more than 20mm into the outside of logs.

Rosemary McDonald

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:32:57 +1200

but methinks will go down like a cup of cold sick in some quarters.

....like it did when this guy got his comeuppance....(page 12)

Sacha

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:30:04 +1200

Hand-wringing from Nathan Guy.

"We can't legislate for value add ..."

Feeble little boy.

Rosemary McDonald

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:12:53 +1200

That is an impressive taonga

Hah! That is _kindling_ compared to the 'table tops' I've seen rolling south from the Far North.

A few years ago they'd be rolling along, bold as brass, in broad daylight. With the controversy raging over the past year, daylight runs have diminished. Insomniacs, (parked…

Katharine Moody

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 17:42:42 +1200

Perhaps another example of opposition + media driving Government policy – as if I recall correctly, it was Winston Peters as MP for the region who raised this in Parliament – which kicked off the media attention.

Found it;

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/277836/mps-say-smith-got-swamp-kauri-rules-wrong

Alfie

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 17:19:46 +1200

Tremain

After this subject received a good public airing, the Government has decided to tighten export rules for swamp kauri.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said milling operators will now have to notify the Ministry of all finished products for export and have them inspected.

Operators will also have to…

Kumara Republic

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 00:07:33 +1200

Don’t know but can imagine.

I hear there were also questions in parliament today. Slowly knowledge and then outrage is spreading.

Doesn't it have the whiff of a company town atmosphere?

Hilary Stace

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 19:13:37 +1200

Don't know but can imagine.

I hear there were also questions in parliament today. Slowly knowledge and then outrage is spreading.

Steve Barnes

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 16:27:37 +1200

Are we allowed to know who complained about the story?.

Hilary Stace

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 17:01:33 +1200

From yesterday’s Northern Advocate, a cleverly worded apology

__On Thursday June 18 a story was published in the Northern Advocate, entitled “Call for Halt on Swamp Kauri Exports”.

This story mentioned that Kauri Ruakaka Limited, formerly known as Oravida, has a stockpile of swamp kauri at Ruakaka.

The story referred…

Hilary Stace

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 13:00:26 +1200

That is an impressive taonga about to be lost to us.

izogi

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 12:31:25 +1200

(embed fail…just tilt your head a little)

Or click through to the large version. (At least, Firefox auto-rotates it for me.)

Sofie Bribiesca

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 12:01:14 +1200

Rolling down Custom St this morning…

That is so obviously a table, exquisitely carved, for export to our new overlords.

Whoops

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 11:47:54 +1200

Rolling down Custom St this morning…

(embed fail...just tilt your head a little)

Hilary Stace

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 19:59:24 +1200

A brief mention of this on TV3 news tonight. No mention of the links to the Minister and her husband though.

andin

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:30:39 +1200

Is that a convoluted way of saying they're a pack of self-serving,self-centred, self-righteous, self-mythologizing, twatcocks?

Tom Semmens

Mon, 22 Jun 2015 12:19:40 +1200

This seems to me to be the perfect coming together of two distinct attitudes that have characterised this government from day one. First, an aggressively, retroactive, 19th century view of the environment, where a clean environment is seen as a luxury we cannot afford, and the value “locked up” in…

Hilary Stace

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 21:32:57 +1200

How is the brave man who was attacked?

Campbell Live tackled this awhile ago. Perhaps someone in television will pick it up again?

Joe Wylie

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 12:41:10 +1200

And she wants to be prime minister?

Definitely.

william blake

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 12:26:20 +1200

I can't quite frame the question, but a minister of the crown, on camera, with a microphone in her face can say; "is it illegal? No? Then mind your own business"

And she wants to be prime minister?

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 11:51:00 +1200

the real 'deal' ?
Whatever, there’s still the trademark racist twist in the piece’s final sentence.
I believe they call this the 'snigger in the woodpile'...
:- (

Joe Wylie

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 11:12:04 +1200

slumber-jacking & loggerheads…
I see The Press has even weighed in on the matter –

Has the Press's curtain-twitcher-in-chief seen the light and abandoned his recent streak of attempting to outdo Paul Henry at his own game? Whatever, there's still the trademark racist twist in the piece's final sentence.

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 10:53:17 +1200

the ungulate great planet earth!
I thought it was mutual respect? They treat us like sheep, in response we regard them as scum…and vote for them anyway.
Reports are coming in of the next extinction period:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/earth-is-entering-sixth-extinction-phase-with-many-species--including-our-own--labelled-the-walking-dead-10333608.html
The report, authored by scientists at Stanford, Princeton and Berkeley universities, found that…

Moz

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 21:44:17 +1200

Collins is doing her best here to make sure politicians rank as low as they possibly can on the 'most respected' list.

I thought it was mutual respect? They treat us like sheep, in response we regard them as scum...and vote for them anyway. Baaa.

As Mal Webb says [[https://malwebb.bandcamp.com/track/carrot|"respect…

Moz

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 21:40:13 +1200

Anarchist activism...Does that include monkeywrenching?

It's not really a good idea to talk about specifics, but yes, monkey wrenching is a common tactic. But it has to be done carefully, and remembering that the usual goal is to get the public onside and/or a law change. Or in this case,…

Sacha

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 21:22:33 +1200

heh

Ken Sparks

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 20:58:47 +1200

I was gonna put a link to this fine piece in the comments there, but I am stuck elsewhere and have forgotten my Stuff log in details
Done!

Ken Sparks

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 20:50:17 +1200

Collins is doing her best here to make sure politicians rank as low as they possibly can on the 'most respected' list.

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 18:24:32 +1200

Pigs are smarter than this!…
I’m also worried about the levels of pig-ignorance of these people. eg Judith Collins when she said “I don’t like wetlands, they’re swamps… Go and find someone who actually cares because I don’t."
Here’s a follow up link for that particularly egregious piece of self-serving…

Kumara Republic

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 18:09:35 +1200

I don’t know if cute publicity stunts work against flagrant corruption though. I’m freakin scared.

Something Yes Men or Chasers-grade?

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 18:01:01 +1200

slumber-jacking & loggerheads…
I see The Press has even weighed in on the matter – http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/69497644/exporting-kauri-logs-is-nonsense-pine-too
I was gonna put a link to this fine piece in the comments there, but I am stuck elsewhere and have forgotten my Stuff log in details – maybe someone else could, in the interests…

Sacha

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 17:40:28 +1200

Have media got anything out of the Northland Regional Council about why they are giving consent for operations that wreck wetlands?

Lilith __

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 16:33:35 +1200

I don't know if cute publicity stunts work against flagrant corruption though. I'm freakin scared.

Lilith __

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 16:29:12 +1200

http://www.listofmicronations.com/lomwiki/index.php/Independent_State_of_Aramoana

They raised huge sums of money selling stamps and issuing passports. Had a ‘traveling embassy’ (a sign painted caravan) that toured the nation raising awareness, oppositional support and fighting funds.

I have an Aramoana passport! Somewhere. Brilliant campaign.

Kevin McCready

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 15:38:03 +1200

I'm also worried about the levels of pig-ignorance of these people. eg Judith Collins when she said "I don’t like wetlands, they’re swamps… Go and find someone who actually cares because I don’t."

william blake

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 15:31:28 +1200

https://mobile.twitter.com/hcirePT/status/611455625273327618

Katharine Moody

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:53:04 +1200

:-). The best campaigns block without flagrant violation of the law. One of my favourites in NZ was this one;

http://www.listofmicronations.com/lomwiki/index.php/Independent_State_of_Aramoana

They raised huge sums of money selling stamps and issuing passports. Had a 'traveling embassy' (a sign painted caravan) that toured the nation raising awareness, oppositional support and fighting…

Kumara Republic

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:42:42 +1200

Anarchist activism – it’s the only way when those supposed to uphold the law refuse to do so. There’s even a new academic journal devoted to it;

Does that include monkeywrenching? There are times when pitchforks simply aren’t enough.

Katharine Moody

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:30:02 +1200

But how to stop it?

Anarchist activism – it’s the only way when those supposed to uphold the law refuse to do so. There's even a new academic journal devoted to it;

http://mobilizationjournal.org/loi/maiq

And a book by Boraman in NZ, "Rabble Rousers and Merry Pranksters: A history of anarchism in…

Alfie

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:08:03 +1200

Thank you Dave for articulating this issue so clearly. It's sad when politicians like Nathan Guy are prepared to turn a blind eye to the destruction of our native wetlands to safeguard obscene profits for the few. While most thinking New Zealanders will be shocked by such wanton vandalism, they…

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 10:35:04 +1200

Was just going to say the same thing, that I'd heard Teisberg saying it was based on the circumference, and I remember thinking at the time that that seemed an odd way to define a stump, and I couldn't imagine foresters thinking that was an economic point at which to…

Henare

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 09:29:02 +1200

On Radio NZ Teisberg understanding of the rules was that the length of the cut wood was based on the circumference of the stump not the width. That's a major piece of misinformation being fed to him as the buyer by the seller.

Kumara Republic

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 03:44:34 +1200

And it’s not like you can really complain when the chief beneficiary is a senior minister of crown, and favorite of the police. I mean, was that man even assaulted? It’s not like anyone was charged.

It’s not far removed from how Sir Joh operated when he ran Queensland in…

tussock

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 03:23:51 +1200

This is essentially what our environmental laws are designed to do. Stay the hell out of the way of anyone who can make a quick buck by destroying the environment. While also preventing anyone from being able to set up anything long-term. So fracking is all fine and set out…

Kumara Republic

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 01:01:17 +1200

Environmental factors aside, this is the kind of stuff we expect to see in banana republics. It's reminiscent of what Shell Oil and the Abacha military junta was doing in Nigeria's Ogoni Delta.

Rob Stowell

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 20:59:47 +1200

Blatantly thumbing their noses at the law (not to mention massively destroying wetlands.) I'm glad this has been exposed. But how to stop it?

Margaret Nancy Davies

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 20:26:31 +1200

You mention the value of stockpiled Swamp Kauri as being $40 million.

"2014 Northland Environmental Protection Society – Swamp Kauri Mining Pushes Rare Native Orchid to Extinction" quotes an insider, that Oravida's Ruakaka Swamp Kauri stockpile of 80,000 tonnes of Kauri is an estimated $400,000,000 or $400 million.

Sacha

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 19:42:53 +1200

This is lazy economic vandalism. Northland needs more high-value jobs but instead the return is is going to places like Poland (top pic). h/t Andrew McKay.

And how convenient that the hubby of a govt MP should be sitting on the biggest stockpile of this easy earner (bottom pic). h/t…

Ken Sparks

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 19:27:33 +1200

Thank you Dave for confirming all my worst fears. In any sane world this latest round of publicity would be enough to shut down this illegal 'business' venture. I really despair about the current Government's worship of the almighty dollar at the expense of everything else – particularly our most…

Public Address

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 19:27:33 +1200

Discussion from blog post.