It may be legal but its morally corrupt- This one involves Environment Minister Amy Adams and her maze of connections to dairy farming interests and irrigation. Im not saying for one minute that she shouldnt own dairy farms. However, her role as minister for the environment while doing so is nothing short of a farce. I say this with the emphasis squarely on the word environment. Further than that is the financial benefit she will gain from her holdings in Mid Canterbury being in the area covered by the contentious Central Plains Water (CPW) scheme. Irrigation, in other words. Canterbury water issues are legion. Environment Canterburys elected councillors were undemocratically sacked by the National Government in 2010 and replaced with commissioners. According to the Government, they were dysfunctional and too slow making decisions on water issues. Documents obtained under the Official Information Act later proved otherwise. Indeed, it was more about the vested dairy-farming interests lobbying on access to more water. In her role as Environment Minister, Amy Adams had the power to dismantle the Water Conservation Order (akin to a national park on water) that had been placed on the Rakaia River back in 1988. Adams duly achieved this last year and the Rakaia can now feed the CPW scheme to irrigate an area of the Canterbury Plains between it and the Hororata Rivers.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 09:31:50 +0000
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