'He should not bully us or our staff': Cr hits back over Minister's letter

“Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.” Bruce Lee

A letter sent by Environment Minister David Parker “epitomises the very essence of bullying”, a councillor claims.

Parker sent a letter to Otago Regional Council (ORC) chairman Andrew Noone on Wednesday, after the release of a report from Professor Peter Skelton.

That report, titled Follow up Investigation of Freshwater Management and Allocation Functions at Otago Regional Council, is expected to be made publicly available.

In 2020, through an amendment to the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), Parliament introduced a new freshwater planning process for regional plans or policy statements.

On 26 June 2021, the ORC notified the whole of its proposed regional statement as a freshwater planning instrument to be subject to the freshwater planning process.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

The council’s determination was supported by Otago iwi, but was challenged by a number of district councils, as well as Forest and Bird, Port Otago, Oceana Gold and two major forestry companies.

That led to a recent High Court judgment involving the ORC and Forest and Bird: “There was thus an error of law in the ORC deciding that the whole of its recently notified proposed regional statement was a freshwater planning instrument to be dealt with under the freshwater planning process,” Justice Gerald Nation said in his decision released last week.

That judgment, wrote Parker, “provides helpful direction as to what is and is not a freshwater planning instrument”.

Parker reiterated his expectation that council “meet the recommendations and timeframes I set in 2019”, including the requirement to notify a new Land and Water Regional Plan (LWRP) by 31 December 2023.

Parker noted that the judgment required the regional council to re-notify those parts of the proposed regional policy statement that were part of a freshwater planning instrument. 

“I expect that your staff would have begun this task. I initially thought one month would be sufficient time to complete this.”

However, he suggested a “reformatted freshwater planning instrument be re-notified by 30 September 2022”.

Parker reiterated his expectations that council meet the recommendations and timeframes he set three years ago, including the requirement to notify a new LWRP by 31 December 2023.

“Professor Skelton’s report raises some concerns regarding councillors not making decisions on freshwater management matters where they appear to be supported by an appropriate level of scientific evidence.” 

“I do not propose to take that issue further at this time, but highlight the issue for you to consider for the future,” Parker, who planned to make the report public, said.

Hillary Calvert, an ORC councillor, took issue with Parker’s letter.

“It epitomises the very essence of bullying, including telling us what was being demanded of us, followed by a partially veiled threat to sack us if we do not comply,” Calvert, speaking in a personal capacity rather than from a council perspective, said.

She noted that the previous ORC chief executive previously advised that they were at risk of having commissioners appointed if Parker’s advice wasn’t followed.

Calvert said Parker had “appropriate ways of communicating with local authorities”.

“And he can go through a tedious process to fire us if we are not doing our job.

“He should not bully us or our staff.”

Calvert said staff were doing their best to provide advice to councillors to produce the best possible planning documents.

“They are doing this as quickly as possible while trying to produce the high standard our community has a right to expect.”

“Minister Parker would do well to concentrate on getting the rules he makes for us to administer fit for purpose rather than trying to push us into a rushed and poorly executed set of planning documents which must by their very nature last longer than either the current ORC councillors or the tenure of the Minister,” she wrote.

Chair Andrew Noone said the council remained committed to working to meet the requirement to notify a new LWRP by 31 December 2023. 

“We are also committed to re-notifying those parts of the proposed Regional Policy Statement that the ORC determines are parts of a fresh water instrument, by 30 September 2022.”

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And, on a water theme, I’ve had a look at cruise ship visitations for Port Chalmers this season.

The port can expect 88 visits from vessels this season, beginning October 26 when the Celebrity Eclipse arrives and ending with Ovation of the Seas on April 23.

There are no visits on Christmas Day, but there will be a two ships due on Boxing Day.

The season is obviously down on pre-Covid levels, but it looks as if larger ships will be visiting more frequently.

That includes Ovation of the Seas, which will visit five times. That alone could bring 20,000 visitors into Dunedin, assuming occupany rates are high.

It is big business, but it will be interesting how the vessels and authorities manage Covid.

I know of one family who completed a cruise around Australia recently, and they ended-up catching Covid and spent seven days in a Sydney hotel. Not my idea of fun (sorry to my family if you are reading this).

Another vessel to keep a lookout for is the Cunard Line Queen Elizabeth, which is 294 metres long and as tall as a 21-storey building.

Its 12 passenger decks feature nearly a dozen restaurants and cafes, two outdoor swimming pools, an 800-seat theatre, a two-storey library, and hopefully no Covid.

Have a great week.