THANK you Peter Minten for your open letter to Dana Kirkpatrick (Beacon, July 10) and Catrina Jones’ excellent follow-up (Beacon, July 12).   Although some of it (government processes, bonds, finance) was above my head, Mr Minten always makes sense and I trust his assessments.

The subject of forestry, however, is close to the bone for me.

My husband and I ran a timber-milling company in the Far North for 15 years, progressing from working with small woodlots to purchasing pruned logs from a large logging company for milling, processing and exporting, plus selling on the local markets.  

Then, abruptly, in 2005, all supply of clear logs ceased as a huge market opened in China for cheap unprocessed  logs.  

We were forced to close, along with another three mills that I know of, one employing 60, in Kaitaia. This was repeated country-wide and led partly to the shortage of building timber and other value-added products in later years.

Wouldn’t you think that a National Government in Kiwiland, with our perceived can-do, number-eight wire mentality, would have the sense to put a realistic export value on trees grown for 25 years and for a realistic appreciation of the value-adding processes and their importance to society and the economy?

It needs to take a leaf out of Finland’s book obviously, as well as show an unbiased attitude towards the previous government’s positive achievements;  to read the Forestry Industry Transformation Plan;  and, incidentally, I hope that that includes rules around the indiscriminate littering of slash.  

If it does, perhaps Ms Kirkpatrick may sit up and take notice.

Suzanne Williams

Plea to withdraw whenua from harbour project

I AM writing in response to the mounting concerns expressed by many within our community about the proposed Te Rāhui Herenga Waka Boat Harbour project.

In 2022, a submission was made to the Environmental Protection Authority by Pupuaruhe ki te Rāhui.

This roopū was created to assert our inherent relationship with the land and waters associated with the fast-track boat harbour and marina project.

We belong to various hapū of Ngāti Awa, and our name derives from the whenua before the confiscation, where Ngāti Pukeko iwi and Te Patuwai hapū once resided. The submission raised some concerns as follows:

• There was no meaningful consultation with ngā uri and hapū of Ngāti Awa.
• As a result, there is inadequate consideration of inherent relationships with the whenua and awa impacted by the Boat Harbour Project.
• There are inadequate plans to address issues pertaining to earthworks and remediation of a known contaminated site.
• There are inadequate plans to address emergency management of any potential spills of fuel and adverse effects on the marine and estuary environment, as well as customary use.
• There are inadequate plans to realistically address issues pertaining to climate change and sea level rise.

Moreover, the fast-track process itself exacerbated these issues. The expedited approval and restricting submissions to those invited to, limited opportunities for public input, reducing the chance for meaningful consultation and engagement with the wider Whakatāne community.

I agree with Jo Steens; this certainly is an egocentric project. This project was fast-tracked into our lives by these government entities and land trusts, who claim they will ensure the protection and the “mauri” of the river, the land, and this community in the development of this project.

Successive councils have a history of exploiting the lands of Te Rāhui for their use, which can be described only as environmental racism.

The 1963-1973 District Plan created a fit-for-purpose zone labelled the industrial triangle.

Despite pleas for rate relief or changes to residential or back-to-rural zoning, these requests fell on deaf ears, thereby pricing our elderly whānau out of their lands, their piece of paradise.

A few years later, the town sewerage was placed in our backyard, and it was only a concerted effort by the community that stopped the town dump from being sited in the same area.

Now, you see the last of the lands in our ancestral domain here as fit for purpose for a boat harbour.

I am concerned about Ngāti Awa Group Holdings and their ability to represent our interests. And their care for the environment.

The poisoning of the trees on Ngāti Awa Farm shows a total disregard for the birdlife and the potential contamination of the soil and waterways that flow into the harbour.

The harbour is an important food source for the Mataatua region, especially for families during these tough economic times and Worksafe NZ laid charges and the court ordered reparations for the victims of the Whakaari eruption.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council has failed dismally by approving this development.

For those of you elected to work with tangata whenua to address their environmental concerns, I am deafened by your silence.

To our whānau, the trustees of our land, it is you who have brought this project into being right on the doorstep of our marae.

Throughout the years we have voiced our concerns about what was contained in the waste matter dumped on the site.

The Kopeopeo canal has had millions of dollars spent on remediation but remains unremediated, this has been a huge factor in the health of our hapū.

You have failed in your fiduciary duties as trustees by putting our whenua, our awa and our people at risk.

My plea to the trustees is to remediate the whenua and withdraw our whenua from this project.

Whatungarongaro te tangata, Toitu te whenua.

Riripeti Kingi, Te Hokowhitu Atu Marae trustee

We have a right to stand against idiotic behaviour

SO, now the regional council has given their consent to the mill waste being moved and stockpiled.

Yeah right. Over the health of every one of us who live around this beautiful Whakatāne area.

How can you do this to us when so many are against it? What right do you have to do this?

So, you think no one will stand in front of your machines to stop this disaster from happening.

You are treating this like some game you have to win?

This is not, for sure.

What you are planning is a major disaster; something that will quite possibly end this town.

Well, you may write yourself permits as much as you like, just tell us what you are going to do with the ground-water that has been leaching down for 30 years.

What plans do you have to deal with this massive problem?

Millions of cubic metres of liquid. In all honesty, you cannot let it reach the river. That would cause a disaster like no one has ever seen, including you.

When the mill waste was placed on this land it went into trenches, row upon row. This was full of water. All of it is still there today – just out of sight, is all.

Tell us, in all your wisdom, what are you going to do with this? Where is your consent for that?

You cannot do this to us as fellow humans. We have a right to stand against idiotic behaviour.

To Ngāti Awa, you have kaitiaki over this awa. If you let this happen, every other iwi’s kaitiaki status will be weakened.

Are you really going to let that happen? No, you can’t. It would weaken your voice forever.

If you lay down your taiaha now you will never again pick it up, ever. For what, money?

This has already gone way too far. I tell you now, there is more polluted water under there than anybody can deal with. This is getting insane, you guys.

Some of our wisest people in the district have voiced their opinion and all agreed.

Don’t open this can of worms. Beyond this point, there are monsters.

The fast-track permit given during Covid should be scrapped.

We all know now what is under the ground and no consent would ever be granted with this knowledge (that is forever poison).

You cannot do this. We will not let you, ever.

Steve Chapman

Listen when making decisions

THANK YOU for running my Grey Power meeting letter on Wednesday.

Please allow me to express my personal takeaway from the meeting, which attracted a full house.

Whakatāne District Council’s manager of strategy and performance, Dr Leny Woolsey, was an excellent speaker.

The title of her presentation, “Leading Through Crisis” assured our guest speaker of a good turnout and many questions.  

My takeaway thoughts were of Leny urging us to listen to others in the process of making important decisions; that’s something where her own employer has been a slow learner for far too long.  

She cheerfully and carefully answered the stream of complaints about our high rates and inconsiderate council spending decisions, where the distrust of our members in our elected councillors and senior managers was mentioned repeatedly.

I hope that Beacon readers heard or read the alert on Tuesday from Professor Mark Thomas, an Auckland professor, regarding gross overuse and misuse of antibiotics by New Zealand GPs, with the result that bacterial resistance to antibiotics in this country is amongst the highest in the developed world.

Dr Thomas has estimated that half of community antibiotics used in New Zealand are for coughs, colds and sore throats; viral respiratory conditions where antibiotics do more harm than good.  

Future generations will suffer because failure to address this will, in his words, result in, “... increased death and disability from untreatable bacterial infections in coming decades”.

Scotsman Alexander Fleming who discovered penicillin, warned us about developing bacterial resistance 96 years ago.

A major cause of the problem is that far too often, antibiotics are prescribed before the identity of the bug is known.

I have been warning people about the need to retain a full service for identifying dangerous bugs right here in Whakatāne for almost 40 years.  

Our family doctors let Eastern Bay of Plenty GP and hospital patients down by allowing a private lab in Tauranga take over microbiology testing.  

Every specimen from a patient gets to the Tauranga lab bench hours or even days too late.  

Most, if not all, antibiotics are prescribed empirically, ie, by guesswork.  

We need a full on-site clinical microbiology diagnostic service.  

Alexander (Sandy) Milne