There has been a bit of comment yesterday and today (including from Guyon Espiner on TV1) that Gerry Brownlee “over-reached” himself when it came to the mining of Schedule 4 land. I certainly think that Gerry failed miserably to sell the policy, but its a bit harsh to blame him for over-reaching when we have this from the John Key’s opening statement to Parliament in February this year.
Notwithstanding the public consultation process, it is my expectation that the Government will act on at least some of these recommendations and make significant changes to Schedule 4. This is because new mining on Crown land has the potential to increase economic growth and create jobs.
That is an unequivocal commitment to major changes to Schedule 4 and to new mining. Gerry was only acting with that in mind. I still think that by the time they got to announcing anything they planned to use Great Barrier as a bit of a stalking horse, but the initial blush of enthusiasm was very much John Key’s. Which is why it was so interesting he tried to get as far away as possible from this policy disaster today.
As an aside in Parliament today the pressure of this and the industrial relations package was telling on Mr Key. He got very side-tracked by interjections, launched into Darren about his hair (he may have a point on that score 
) and at one stage totally tossed his toys and sat down in the middle of an answer. Tough day at the office.
I’m glad there evil mining plans were thwarted!
“THEIR” evil mining plans
I must agree, Grant. I watched Key with, was it?, Paul Holmes talking about liberating 7000 ha of Schedule 4 land and was very surprised to see the complete volte-face that he made. This is a turn around which needs to be pointed out very strongly. If key wants to front this NACT government as spokesperson for all the ‘smile and wave exercises,’ then he needs rough handling when it comes to having to back down from poorly researched, spur of the moment, back of the envelope ideas like mining conservation areas, contaminating Canterbury’s water, jobs in cycle ways, knocking down iconic Auckland sheds or super-sizing the Queen City.
The defeat of this NACT government will lie heavily in defeating the image that Keys has created- that there is are more wheels coming off than deals being created by this master wheeler dealer.
Get into ‘em.
We should all cheer that Nikki Kaye is in charge of policy making now.
That one little word from her- Not in my back yard or NIMBY has turned the cabinet into a new cirque du soleil act
He he he
ghost – interesting. I always thought her very quick condemnation of the GRT Barrier idea was a sure sign of Government switch and bait. NO ONE gets away with second guessing National publicly, except Rortney (remember he would resign if Maori got allocated seats in the SuperCity)
“Notwithstanding the public consultation process, it is my expectation that the Government will act on at least some of these recommendations and make significant changes to Schedule 4. This is because new mining on Crown land has the potential to increase economic growth and create jobs.”
I wonder how it went down with the public when he said he DID make significant change to Schedule 4, “we added to it”. We are not fans so we thought it was smug and churlish… wonder how fans saw it.
TV3 and TV1 seem to have quite different views on the same things these days.
I think Gerry did overreach himself… Not knowing that using the words, “mining, Coromandel, Great Barrier Island, conservation and Schedule 4″ together would drive people ballistic shows that Gerry might find bathing and clothing himself over reaching…
They can say the back down is all about saving jobs- saving their own!
@Tracey – “NIMBY” I’d suggest the switch and bait failed because most people see Great Barrier, the Hauraki Gulf and the Coromandel as one.. I know I do. It is one uniqe large public resource for rest, recreation and conservation in the wider sense of the words.
Key was acting as the chairman of the board, it Brownlee’s bungle, between him, McCully and Kate Wilkinson we are beginning to see more than the gloss come off this government – may be a few stone chips appearing.
The fundamental issue isn’t between growth or no growth, but rather between smart growth and dumb growth. That’s one area where we can pick up the ball and run with it.
It goes to show there are much smarter ways to make money, as Silicon Valley illustrates – oh that’s right, the so-called “ambition for NZ” is to imitate Fountain Lakes or Las Vegas.
DeepRed, our silicon valley is turning drought susceptible canterbury into dairy