Listen to The Country online: Shane Jones on regional councils, moths, and Donald Trump

Today on The Country radio show, host Jamie Mackay catches up with NZ First Minister Shane Jones to find out why he wants regional councils gone.
Plus, what does he have against an endangered moth in Otago?
On with the show:
Shane Jones:
The Prince of the Provinces, Matua

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Otago Daily Times

a day ago

Otago Daily Times

Minister not impressed with council

Resources Minister Shane Jones has challenged the West Coast Regional Council to explain why it exists if it cannot approve mining consents in a reasonable timeframe. He also repeated his warning to Local Democracy Reporting that the country's regional councils are on borrowed time under the coalition government. West Coast goldminers have appealed to the minister over long delays as consent applications are processed by environmental consultants in the North Island. Some miners — including a regional councillor — have waited for more than a year for the go-ahead, and the council recently shut down a gold mine that had been bulk-sampling and waiting 17 months for consent to mine. Prominent mining adviser Glenys Perkins this week told the minister that her family has put off expanding the gold mine on their farm and hiring two more workers because a consultant wants a drain monitored for a year before granting consent. Mr Jones told LDR he was not impressed with the council's performance. "If the council cannot perform this core role, of issuing resource consents in a timely fashion, what is its purpose? "What other role does it have down there?" It was distressing to hear of obstacles being placed in the way of miners when the government was trying to grow exports and the West Coast was "riddled" with all sorts of mining opportunities. "I feel I've acted with a great deal of credibility and supported the Coast, so why can't local government on the West Coast support me? "Why are local bureaucrats importing people from other parts of New Zealand to protract, delay and undermine the agenda of our government?" That agenda was to promote growth in the regions, boost economic resilience, generate jobs and dig the country out of the post-Covid fiscal hole, Mr Jones said. Regional council chief executive Darryl Lew defended the council's record, saying consents staff have been under pressure with high numbers of consent applications including complex ones leading to hearings that were taking up large amounts of staff time. External consultants have been hired to ease the workload, but he now believed it was time to hire more staff, he said. Shane Jones said he did not know the fine details of the council's hiring practices, but he judged politicians on their results and outcomes. "And the politicians and bureaucrats of the West Coast Regional Council, they owe a high level of duty to that element of the community that's ready to risk their money and take their equity into these enterprises." Processing resource consents and enabling the economy were core business for regional councils, Mr Jones said. "But regional councils in my view have reached a very low ebb." Regional councils had been invented to administer the Resource Management Act, and with the abolition of that Act, he believed they did not have a future, Mr Jones said. "Which is why after the next election there will be local-government rationalisation and the very strong stance we're taking is that there is no longer a purpose for regional councils and I am happy that the prime minister sees that such a development should be a priority, if not for this government then the next." With the RMA split into two new Acts, people working for regional councils would no doubt end up playing some kind of role in a reformed level of regional governance, the minister said. There were already examples of regional and district councils being fused together (in unitary authorities) and after the election there would be a host of options. Councils would need critical mass and a capital base to cope with changing weather, and higher expectations from the community about how to adapt to climatic challenges, the minister said. "I accept a lot of council leaders may be reluctant to openly identify options that might spell their demise, but I just want them to know after next election, we'll do that on their behalf." — Lois Williams, Local Democracy Reporter — LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

Otago Daily Times

2 days ago

Otago Daily Times

‘Kremlin' councils need to go: Jones

Resource Minister Shane Jones has called the Otago Regional Council "the Kremlin of the South Island" after an application to expand the Macraes gold mine ran into trouble. Mr Jones, who is also the regional development minister, said the council was full of "KGB green zealots" and the episode showed why regional councils needed to be scrapped. The Otago council's assessment of environmental effects — which recommended Oceana-Gold's application to expand its mine be declined in full — was "ideological scribbling". Any other investor or miner in New Zealand would now quickly conclude they had to join the fast-track application process, "which will enable these economic saboteurs to be marginalised", he said. Council chairwoman Cr Gretchen Robertson said "name-calling" was unhelpful and the council's views were evidence-based, not ideological. OceanaGold has been granted more time to prepare for a hearing for its proposed expansion at Macraes after the regional council said its application should be declined and the Waitaki district and Dunedin city councils also raised concerns. The regional council's view of the company's Macraes Phase 4 (MP4) Project was troubling, Mr Jones said. "It confirms the worst of my prejudices, that the regional council in the South Island, that the Otago Regional Council is the Kremlin of the South Island," he said. "These are the reasons why people should be backing me to disestablish regional councils in New Zealand. "Their role is as catchment boards and looking at the discharge and the allocation of water, water take. "I am astounded at a time where the economy is still recovering from the Covid experience, a record number of New Zealanders are moving to Australia, and we have these Politburo apparatchiks destroying hundreds of jobs, undermining scores of millions of dollars in the local economy. The ''nationally vulnerable'' moth Orocrambus sophistes, which lives in short tussock grasslands, was found at Golden Bar, one of three open pits about 55km north of Dunedin that OceanaGold has applied to expand. The regional council's recommending report highlighted the moth alongside the proposed expansion's actual and potential effects on surface water quality, aquatic ecology, natural inland and ephemeral wetlands, and lizard habitat. The effects would be ''significantly adverse'' and could not be avoided, minimised, remedied, offset or compensated for. It would also have significant adverse cumulative effects on cultural values, ''and it is not yet known if these can be managed by conditions'', the report said. Cr Robertson said the report was prepared by qualified professionals under the Resource Management Act. ''It is a technical, evidence-based assessment — not a political statement. ''Our staff are simply doing their jobs within the only under-and we have these Politburo apparatchiks destroying hundreds of jobs, undermining scores of millions of dollars in the local economy. ''For a dead moth. It's an ideological attempt to defeat mining. It truly is unbelievable. This is a part of New Zealand where no-one goes." ''There are some easy mitigative steps that can be taken, but the Kremlin and its KGB green zealots completely and utterly show me why regional councils need to be disestablished.'' law as it stands. ''Name-calling mines confidence in both central and local government.'' Regional councils across New Zealand welcomed ''meaningful dialogue'' on how to best deliver the services they were intended to — flood protection, biosecurity, civil defence, environmental management and public transport, she said. ''Here in Otago, we remain focused on our responsibility to protect the environment while supporting sustainable economic development. ''That balance is not ideological — it reflects the law, and we believe it reflects the values of our region: caring for both our environment and our livelihoods.'' A minute issued by independent commissioner Rob van Voorthuysen this week said the hearing for OceanaGold's proposed expansion had been postponed from next month to December at the mining company's request. The company's lawyers advised more time was required to consider the recommendations from the councils, he said. OceanaGold senior vice-president Alison Paul said adjourning the MP4 hearing, originally scheduled for next month, would give the company more time to prepare its evidence, including addressing all three councils' reports and recommendations.

NZ Herald

2 days ago

NZ Herald