A video campaign featuring Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai and Far North Deputy Mayor Tania McInnes hopes to persuade the Maori Party not to support a Government move to remove powers from local bodies to declare themselves free of genetically modified organisms.
The Whangarei and Far North district councils are among a group of local authorities in the upper North Island who have declared themselves GM-free and introduced rules to protect the GM-free status of their areas.
Now Environment Minister, Nick Smith wants to introduce changes to the Resource Management Act that will take away the rights of councils to make their own decisions on GMOs.
Under Clause 360D in the RMA Bill the Government can stop regions from making their own decisions on key issues, such as whether their territories remain GM-free. GM-free growing regions are Far North, Whangarei, Hastings and Auckland.