Good on ya Merv Goodley — reliable in your responding, but head counts at meetings don’t make consensus. I can’t remember when Rocket Lab last had a public meeting. With unfettered access and a BAU (business as usual) “nothing to see here” approach, they no longer bother about public engagement — not to mention never really answering the hard questions at those long-gone hui.
Like where is the independent environmental testing? I have not been to a meeting on this kaupapa at Kaiuku ever and neither have any other Rocket Lab Monitor organisers. I have attended Hui a Iwi hui there, in case you’re mixed up.
From memory the last public hui in Mahia were held in late 2022 when MBIE were running public consultation. That hui was about launch regulation, policy and strategy for Aotearoa. No disruptions there, and no, we did not all agree.
In my assessment whānau (old and young, including Tawapata trustees) felt safer asking the regulator about the company’s activity without the company there — such is the level of trust in an American company doing business in Aotearoa.
In fact, the Space Agency leads from MBIE admitted they were not aware of many of the issues being raised.
