The QE2 covenant, the Mining Company and the donation to NZ First

• mickysavage
• 4 weeks ago
• Categories: corruption, election 2023, elections, nz first, political parties, Politics

Radio New Zealand has broken the jaw dropping and astounding story that shows why the Fast Track Projects Bill is potentially so corrupting to the body politic and why there has to be electoral law reform to stop corporations from buying influence.

From Farah Hancock at RNZ:

A NZ First donor wants Fast Track legislation to free up permanently protected land for quarrying.

J Swap, a company involved in quarrying, wants land protected under QEII covenants to be available to quarry. It donated $11,000 to NZ First in December, after the coalition was formed.

It also gave $5000 to NZ First’s Shane Jones in August 2023 and $3000 to National’s David MacLeod in September 2023.

So lets put this in bulletpoints:

• J Swap donated $5,000 Shane Jones
• It also donated $3,000 to David Macleod he who forgot to declare $178,000 in electorate donations.
• It gave NZ First $11,000 in December last year. And you have to wonder who would give a political party a significant sum of money three months AFTER the general election.
• It lodges a submission saying that QEII land should be subject to the Fast Track Projects Bill.
• It has been involved in litigation over an extended period of time attempting to remove a QEII covenant from land its owns so that it can quarry some pristine land.

If the bill is amended to cover QEII covenanted land there will be major questions to ask.

And while we are on the subject of donations NZ First has received a number of significant sums of money since the election. Like these:

• DV Chiscolm who gave $50,000 during November.
• Hero Ltd who gave $50,000 on December 12.
• Cosgrove & Partners who gave $6,000 in December.
• A Krukziener (this guy?) who gave $19,999 in December. I wonder why he could not make it a round $20,000?
• The Houghton Family Trust who gave $10,000.69 on October 24.
• Garry Robertson who gave $11,750 in November.
• Scott Bright who gave $6,750 in December.
• Or how about Business NZ who gave $6,000 in December.

These are donors who did not give before election day. It would be interesting to understand their motivation.

Clearly the Government is preparing a wind back. Changes to remove the power of Ministers to grant or change decisions would be a start. And at least a nodding acknowledgment that protection of the environment should be a consideration.