Mining spin: Govt try improve palatability of unpalatable plan
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1:04 pm, April 24th, 2010 - 26 comments
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The Government is trying to run a campaign to try and minimise public outcry of its plan to desecrate areas areas of our National Parks. By purposefully releasing its mad initial plan, Minister of Energy Gerry Brownlee hoped his second-choice would appear more palatable.
I have no doubt that this first plan to open up even more land was exactly what Brownlee wanted. It was only the likely public outcry that forced Cabinet to tell Gerry to back off and go back to the drawing board.
Now, with even the new mining plan proving unpopular, Brownlee is running around trying to prove it really isn’t that awful. He’s almost saying “See how in my first plan I wanted to mine all National Parks, now I just want to mine a couple of them“.
Mr Brownlee needs to recognise that just because you compare a crazy plan with a f**king mental plan, it doesn’t actually make the crazy plan any less crazy. And just because your f**king mental plan doesn’t get through the hoops, it doesn’t mean that you’re not a barking mad ideologue.
All our National Parks are special. And let’s be very clear here Mr Brownlee. You have no right to pick and choose to desecrate any of those special lands.
26 comments on “Mining spin: Govt try improve palatability of unpalatable plan ”
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“…that forced Cabinet to tell Gerry to back off…”
But he’s saying that he told an unspecified ‘them‘ to ‘get real’ and that was when the 7000 hectares came back.
As I was trying to articulate here, there is an invisible straw man being set up by the Nats whose purpose is to make them look like conservation estate good guys.
edit Maybe better expressed as a TINA situation is being manufactured?
Also, where does this idea come from that mining Stewart Island won’t draw massive opposition? Is that a N.Island perception perhaps?
I think Brownlee is just lying about telling anyone to back off. Trying to pretend he’s not all “sexy-coal” Brownlee.
I can’t believe for a second that a cabinet minister would lie on such a matter.
Because he is surely going to be made to name who it was he supposedly told to ‘get real’ (his words).
And he’s going to be asked to explain whose directions they were acting under.
And he’s going to be asked that if it is a case that they didn’t follow their directions, then why that would be.
And so on.
But he’s not going to be accused of lying and the whole matter passed over because that would be totally unfair to Gerry Boy.
Right?
Haha, yeah, the opposition will TOTALLY ask him. LOL
And if they do, it’s not like any of the news outlets will air it.*rolls eyes*
Been out collecting sigs easiest campaign ever!
good show outofbed!
Is he storing lumps of coal in those jowls?
Sexy Coal with Lucy Lawless and Robyn Malcolm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0oqeJ7a_hE&feature=player_embedded#!
Bloody funny
“hey Gerry say coal say coal”
they are hardly experts, just fools with delusions of importance. celebrity doesn’t make a cause right, or even effective. bob geldofs recent unmasking comes to mind.
Though surely everyone is entitled to an ideology TightyRighty? Or would you deny individuals have the capacity to make value judgements for themselves?
Wait, experts matter now that we’re not talking about climate change?
Oh wait, we ARE talking about climate change. Don’t worry, there are plenty of experts saying the same thing.
If a surgical mine tunnel was drilled just outside then under a National Park then the surface would be pristine.
If a surgical mine tunnel was drilled in a remote part of a National Park the it would be 99% pristine ie cosmetically pristine yet profitable.
Two words. Subsidence and groundwater. Look them up and figure out how daft and naive you sound.
‘Surgical’ mining simply isn’t possible because you can’t confine natural systems easily if at all. Everything affects everything else, usually in unexpected ways. The best approach to put considerable distance between land-uses
Three concepts – access roads, processing plants and tailings dams. All needed for mining, surgical or otherwise. All take more room than the access portal. All take longer to disappear, too.
Surgical mining is a prelude to open cast. Prove the lode is there with an underground mine. Wait until the political environment is suitable, then threaten to pull out (job losses, ghost towns, reduced foreign investment etc.) unless an open cast permit is given. Might take ten or fifteen years or more, but that’s okay. Example at -37.601176S, 175.075808E.
Two words
Modern and mining
Several words
this isn’t like keyhole surgery to remove a cancer
this idea to remove certain pieces of these areas is not going to make them better
this is not a proposal to help
it is about removing wealth and then what?
another holiday home for Jonkey types perhaps in Greece?
la la blah blah
Key is letting Brownlee spin as deep as they would like to be mining
Heard that Nelson had a demonstration against mining yesterday with hundreds of people turning up.
Loads of people marched up Trafalgar Street, big turnout for Nelson. Plenty of tourists found out about the mining proposals and weren’t too impressed.
Nick Smith had the guts to turn up and try and put the Nat Party spin, unfortunately this wasn’t compatible with his speech introducing the S4 legislation and wasn’t really taken seriously. Word is that he loathes the Brownlee scheme but is getting heavily leaned on. I guess his conservation principles aren’t strong enough for him to resign.
Heard that Nelson had tens of thousands of people not turn up.
I held an anti-Fascist march yesterday. You didn’t turn up. Fascist.
The Nelson Mail reports a crowd of close to 2000.
That’s huge for Nelson – as nrt says that’s the equivalent of 10,000 in Wellington.
Or even more vividly (for northeners) 50,000 in Auckland.
But to Fisiani this means nothing. Probably blames the lubrul meeedia.
Nats’ repulsive and cynical moves
kindles coals that smoulder and fire
in our chests
A hundred thousand would weep
than might laugh