Horizons Chairman Calls David Carter a Fibber

To misquote Lady Bracknell, :To knoble one regional council in your eagerness to gift water to the landed gentry may be sold as a nesseary intervention, to knoble two regional councils begins to look like partisan pork barrel politics in fvour of an oligarchy.

Actually from the very article you linked to “The Court’s decision determined the average costs to farmers to be on average 5 per cent of annual operating expenses.” – that could very well mean they reduce profit to zero, I imagine even a very profitable farm would not be making more than 10% gross profit and that has now been effectively halved. What other business would put up with the local Council suddenly asking them to apply for a full Resource Consent twice a year to carry out the SAME normal “Land Use Permitted Activity” business they had always carried out.

The other big problem is that this Environmental Court decision totally destroys and flat out goes against the written law of clause-4 of the RMA (earlier decisions had already seriously weakened it). So much for “black letter” law and the will of Parliament – it’s now entirely activist Judge made law with regards to the RMA. For those that don’t know clause-4 and related clauses protected existing use rights and stopped the RMA applying retroactively and “coming to the problem” – both fundamental principles of justice. This will have will major consequences in the future and not just for farmers – wait until your Council suddenly decides that all existing fully legal permitted uses for house in Suburban Outer or your business in Commercial-A zone must now annually apply for a Resource Consent, think it won’t happen? Think Councils don’t already love the significant revenue from fee’s rather than rates? Think Councils aren’t already in trouble over income, spending, rates, debt? Think they won’t love a guaranteed new massive annual income stream? Think Council bureaucrats won’t love getting more power, more make-work, more boxes to tick, more staff? First they came for the farmers and you did nothing, next it will be industrial, and then commercial/retail and finally it will be residential – you can fucken guarantee it if the Labour/Greens/Mana/Maori coalition gets up (of course maori owned land will be exempted just like it is under Horizon council policy). Won’t you love paying rates + council user charges + consent fee’s + house W.o.F. fee’s (like commercial buildings) constantly, and all the cost’s if they change the rules, e.g. making double glazing compulsory for all housing including existing – it’s for the environment/save the planet from AGW/ “the health of the children”(TM). Think it won’t happen? Give it ten years. And the Environment Court has opened the door wide open now.