No magic wand, no to a commissioner

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

I am reading and digesting the debate on the place of the forestry industry in our future.
Apparently about 40 years ago we collectively decided that pine forests were going to improve the environment and apparently we were wrong.
That was the past and this time around we are asking the experts what went wrong and how to fix it.
We didn’t have experts back then as it turns out they only thought they knew what they were doing, so this time we have enlisted Hekia Parata and Peeni Henare. I know Te Weu Tairawhiti must also be in there somewhere.
These people are putting out reports that imply there are measures that can be taken and that there is a small window of opportunity for us to make changes that will magically make all our problems go away.
They stress that time is of the essence and that if we don’t let an unelected commissioner step in and take over, we will be unable to change.
We do not need another sole source of truth.
We saw what happened last time.
There is no magic wand that the commissioner can wave that will stop the pattern of environmental degradation any time soon.
If you rural people want to be told where you can live and what you can do with your own land by a commissioner, you are effectively handing over your own sovereignty.
Peter Jones