Labour’s stupidity and hypocrisy

The other day Adam pointed out the hypocrisy of She Who Used To Be Obeyed, as illustrated by this Audrey Young piece. Now today Adam’s blogging mate Inventory2 drew attention to the nonsense spouted by Comrade Chauvel in the House yesterday on the same matter.Fortunately, Gerry Brownlee slapped Comrade Charles down with this comment amongst others:-

Yes, I have. I have seen a statement from the Hon Phil Goff, which says: “I think most New Zealanders want to see a balance. They want to see some areas that are less sensitive in the conservation estate available to environmentally sensitive mining.” However, I have also seen a statement from the member who asked the primary question, Mr Charles Chauvel, in which he says: “What we will not do is permit exploration or mining on the conservation estate.” Mr Chauvel seems to forget that under Labour there were no fewer than 82 mines on conservation land. I suggest that Mr Chauvel makes it clear to the House whether he or the Leader of the Opposition speaks for the party.

So Brownlee slaps Comrade Charles down for being a posturing hypocrite. Audrey Young pointed out in her piece how Clark was speaking with forked tongue as  :-

The trouble with Clark’ position is it is a case of do as she says, not as she did. Clark’s Government was responsible for approving the Pike River Coal Mining under the Paparoa ranges in the DOC estate 50km from Greymouth.

In fact it was approved by Chris Carter, who was a tough Conservation Minister under Clark’s close watch. Part of Carter’s 2004 press statement says:

“This mine does represent an intrusion into an area of high conservation values and a decision on whether to allow it to go ahead has been a very difficult one to make because of this,” Mr Carter said.

“I have considered the fact that the mine is mostly underground and its visual footprint above ground is small (10 hectares) compared with the large area of protected landscape surrounding it (88,000 hectares). Most of the public conservation land that will be affected is stewardship land. There are only small impacts on the neighbouring ecological area and the Paparoa National Park, which carry a much higher legal status.

“Taking into account the criteria laid down in the Crown Minerals Act, I have concluded that the partial safeguards and compensation deal offered by the company are sufficient to outweigh the inconsistencies between the application and objectives of the Conservation Act under which these lands are held, the various purposes for which these lands are held and the relevant management plans that apply.”

In fact Carter’s justification and approach does not sound so very different from statements made by Brownlee.

So it would seem that Labour are politicking and hoping that no one will remember what they actually said and did in the past.

It would seem that Comrade Chauvel, Junket Carter, Fill In and the person formerly known as H1 still seem to think that we are all stupid.

Comments such as those from Chauvel and Clark just continue to make clear why Labour are not fit to govern.

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