Brendon Burns

Environment Minister Nick Smith has taken five weeks to wake up to his responsibility to intervene in the Mackenzie Basin factory farming consents debacle, says Labour water spokesperson Brendon Burns.

Commenting on the decision by Dr Smith to call in three large dairy effluent discharge consents and to establish a board of inquiry to decide on the applications, Brendon Burns said: “The sad thing is that he has needed to be prodded by his cabinet colleagues to take action.

“Environment Canterbury appealed to Dr Smith on 23 December. It has taken the Minister 35 days, and he would still be dithering if Agriculture Minister David Carter and other National MPs had not visited the area, and resolved to ‘share their thoughts’ with Dr Smith.”

Brendon Burns said he had raised the issue of Dr Smith sitting on the fence when he became aware 20 days ago of ECan’s request to the Minister.

“Nick Smith has now belatedly ‘discovered’ the national significance of these discharge consents.

“It has been apparent to every other New Zealander I have spoken to that it is a particularly stupid and offensive idea to factory farm nearly 18,000 cows in a fragile and iconic environment where freshwater quality is of such paramount importance.

“I suppose we should be grateful Dr Smith has finally come to his senses and woken up to his responsibilities,” Brendon Burns said. “But in terms of leadership on this issue, he has provided absolutely nothing.”  

Cabinet divisions over how to deal with factory farming consents in the MacKenzie country may prevent the sort of the Government intervention that is required, says Labour’s water spokesman Brendon Burns.
 
Prime Minister John Key confirmed after yesterday’s Cabinet that there were ‘mixed opinions’ about intervening in the proposals to house and feed housing 18,000 cows in sheds above Lake Ohau for most of the year, Brendon Burns said.
 
However, prior to Christmas Mr Key had said of the huge factory farming consents being sought that he ‘shared the concerns’ being voiced, which included feared environmental impacts and those on New Zealand’s grass-fed export industry. Mr Key also advised Parliament that the Minister of Agriculture was seeking urgent advice on the animal welfare concerns raised.
 
Brendon Burns said that earlier this month he had discovered that Environment Canterbury had written to Environment Minister Nick Smith asking him to consider urgently having the Government call-in the consents. “So far all Dr Smith has done is kick for touch. When the approach from ECAN was made public, he talked about sending down an official to help.

“The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment is now backing a call-in for discharge consents for the factory farms. Dr Smith’s response has been to say that she has overlooked that this would cause a disconnect with the water-take consents already heard,” Brendon Burns said.
 
“Dr Smith is providing no real leadership on this issue – and yet his brief as our Environment Minister includes looking after the precious Mackenzie country landscape and its breathtaking lakes. Does he not share the concern the Prime Minister voiced last year, or does he think Mr Key was out of line with those welcome comments?”
   
Brendon Burns says Dr Smith was a lion for the environment in Opposition but the signals from him in Government continue to be less than promising. 

7 January 2010  
Prime Minister John Key and Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman must explain why they consider our elite Commonwealth Games athletes less worthy of media coverage than All Blacks, says Labour Broadcasting spokesperson Brendon Burns.

Brendon Burns said the decision by Television New Zealand to sell the rights to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi to Sky Television, with 12 hours free-to-air coverage each day on the Prime channel, amounted to a major “Government put down for Kiwi Commonwealth Games athletes.

“Just three months ago the Government presided over an amazing shambles which at one stage seemed likely to see two government-owned agencies, Maori Television and TVNZ, bidding against each other for free-to-air broadcasting rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup,” Brendon Burns said.

“The Government was forced to paper over rifts between its Maori Party confidence and supply partners and its own Ministers over Maori Television’s innovative bid to win the rights. 

“That shambles was sorted by a compromise bid involving both TVNZ and Maori Television and TV3 as well, but what leaves a sour taste is that while there was widespread concern then that tens of thousands of viewers would miss out on rugby coverage if Maori Television won the bid on its own, that same standard does not now apply to Commonwealth Games athletes,” Brendon Burns said.

“Prime Television reaches about the same number of viewers as Maori Television, so that means the Government is clearly prepared to stand by and let tens of thousands of New Zealanders miss out on seeing athletes like Valerie Vili and Nick Willis perform for our country.

“This is an incredible double standard from John Key and Jonathan Coleman. They were prepared to fund a joint bid from its state-owned companies for Rugby World Cup free-to-air coverage, but those Kiwis who can’t afford Sky and don’t get Prime will be denied the chance to see our world-renowned athletes in action in an event that comes round only once in every four years.”

 
8 January 2010

The decision of the Environment Minister Nick Smith to intervene in the factory dairy farming resource consents in the Mackenzie Basin has been welcomed by Labour water spokesperson Brendon Burns.

Dr Smith announced today that he is working with Environment Canterbury which wrote to him on 23rd December asking if he might call in the three mega-farm resource consents, given widespread public opposition.

Dr Smith has indicated he may appoint an official from the Environmental Protection Agency to assist ECan as it continues to process the resource consents.

Brendon Burns says that may assist, but the issues raised by the resource consents submission process indicate a range of serious concerns for New Zealand’s export and tourism base and for the water quality of the MacKenzie Basin’s pristine lakes.

“I would hope that the first Cabinet meeting of the year on January 19th will consider these potential wider impacts on New Zealand and look at whether a wider intervention than that proposed today by Dr Smith is appropriate and feasible.

“The MacKenzie Basin’s fragile environment is too precious to be put at any risk,” Brendon Burns says.

7 January 2010
Environment Minister Nick Smith has been asked by Environment Canterbury if he wants
to call in the resource consents for factory dairy farming operations in the Mackenzie Basin, says Labour water spokesperson Brendon Burns.

Brendon Burns says he discovered the request yesterday when looking at ECan files before visiting the Mackenzie Basin to look at the impact of factory farming on water quality.

ECan chief executive Dr Bryan Jenkins wrote to Dr Smith on December 23, noting that commissioners are hearing resource consents for three corporate dairy farm operations involving up to 8000 hectares of land housing 17,000 cows, Brendon Burns said.

In the letter Dr Jenkins wrote that independent of the hearing process, there had been media debate about factory farming with the Agriculture Minister seeking urgent advice on animal welfare issues. At the same time, there had been calls for the consents to be declined on the basis that they are contrary to New Zealand’s reputation as a source of pastoral free-range dairy products.

Brendon Burns said the legal advice to ECan is that animal welfare issues are not an “effect” of the activity and cannot be included in consideration, and nor could they provide the basis for a Ministerial call-in of the applications.

“Dr Jenkins says there is a stronger argument for considering the detrimental effect on New Zealand’s image abroad from factory farming, but it is unlikely a regional council could place significant weight on this issue. He has asked Dr Smith if he is considering a call-in under Section 142 of the Resource Management Act, which allows Mr Smith to use the powers if a resource consent is causing widespread public concern about likely impacts on the environment.”

Brendon Burns says Dr Smith should seriously consider using the powers. “The potential harm from these massive dairy operations is not just limited to the fragile beauty of the Mackenzie Basin and its pristine lakes and rivers.

“Fonterra, the tourism industry, scientists, politicians across both major and some minor parties, all have expressed fears about impacts on water, on animals and on New Zealand’s reputation as a tourism destination and pasture-fed exporter.”

Brendon Burns says any decision on a call-in is required by January 15 for two of the corporate dairy farming applications and by January 22 for the third.