Between protesters, passionate discussions, and fire alarms it was all happening in the Otago Regional Council’s meeting this morning.
Ahead of today's meeting embattled Otago Regional Council chairwoman Marian Hobbs cast moves against her - nine councillors have written to the chief executive seeking a meeting to replace her - as an attempt to ignore national policy statements, saying she will not leave her role quietly.
"If I had gone quietly, the many citizens hoping for environmental improvements in Otago would have been told in whispers that I was too old, too stressed," she wrote in her chairwoman’s report to today's meeting.
The report sparked a heated response from some councillors today.
The discussion was momentarily interrupted by an evacuation alarm, but not before councillors had their chance to passionately deny her comments.
Cr Gretchen Robertson said she felt Ms Hobbs' comments suggesting councillors were ignoring national policy statements were "grossly unfair".
"It painted all of Otago in a particular light … we have actually worked closely with iwi and our community for many years to get to where we have got to."
Council needed to stop playing "crazy" games and start listening to the community leaders making a difference, she said.
"We need to recognise that people are getting hurt while we are doing this."
She said councillors had looked at its core values over lockdown, and all cared for the environment.
Ms Hobbs made reference to the letter written by seven councillors in March, and said it was opposite to a letter which was written to the minister at the beginning of the year, committing to completing the regional policy statement (RPS) by the end of the year.
"If we really are the environmentalists that many of you claim you are around this table, if you do care about water, then we will get a RPS in place by the end of this year."
Cr Michael Laws said there was not one person around the council table who had any intent of ignoring National Policy Statement on freshwater management.
Ms Hobbs said, based on councillors’ responses, they should withdraw the letter they signed, to which Mr Laws said it did not have relevance going forward as it was a letter written in response to the effects of Covid-19 and Ms Hobbs needed to "move on" and "build a bridge".
Cr Kevin Malcolm said it was "shocking" to imply that he, along with other councillors, were not for the environment.
He said he signed the letter at the time as a "heart-felt desire" in response to the pandemic.
"I had family in France in a military lockdown, and I could not think through that process … I had constituents ringing me in tears, saying they did not want the process to continue while they were thinking of their families.
"I have never ever said I have anything against the progress of this council towards fresh water and a good environment. Do not ever say that …"
Cr Alexa Forbes said the simplest way to move on would be to withdraw the letter.
Tension began before the start of the meeting, as protesters from Save Our Water Group awaited councillors at the door of Phillip Laing House, in Dunedin, before joining them inside the meeting room to deliver a letter.
The group of about 25 people stood up in the council meeting room and walked around the council table, handing each councillor a copy of their letter which outlined their concerns over the ORC’s waterway governance.
Green Party candidate Jack Brazil, who led the protest, said the group demonstrated as ratepayers, citizens and guardians for the future.
"[We protested] to send a clear message to the ORC councillors that we are appalled at their lack of integrity, the conflicts of interest over water permits with existing councillors and boring squabbling while freshwater is in imminent danger from further irreparable damage."
Unless council acted now, it would jeopardise all living systems that sustain life for further generations, he said.
It has been an important matter to the group, as they were "gravely" concerned at what they believed was a lack of meaningful partnership with tangata whenua.
"We are watching ORC, and we will continue holding them to account."
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Comments
The issue is not a policy issue. It's about dysfunctional leadership! Hobbs has to go!
Apparently according to Mr Laws it is about personalities. They ALL should go!
Actually ORC has been on the brink of needing a commissioner to ensure it fulfils its legal duties impartially and effectively for many years. Leadership throughout the organisation over many years - would be valuable to externally review.
funny how when ever someone stands up to the labour/green madness, out come the rent a protest crowd
So our waterways being so poisonous our kids and animals can't go swimming; and 80% of our nation's wetlands gone in a few decades due to new commercial farming (wetlands are very effective "lungs" that fight against climate change) and local threatened species going extinct so a business can use a piece of land ... Do you think it is madness to try to stop and slow this down? Do you want everything utilised by private business and farming? Then who picks up the tab later to fix the issues? Taxpayers. Not generally the private profit makers. Where is this "madness" you refer to? I wd say the madness is in the public allowing private greed to ruin our natural treasures and leaving the rest of us to pay the clean up bills.
No doubt sincere but I wonder how many of the approximately 25 protesters really are ratepayers. Also, they don't say what they would like to see in place of the present local government law managing natural water. Easy to criticize and tear down but hard to build up.
Federated farmers and business have always lobbyied to get personal profit (by "over-utilising" the water) while nature &the public pays for their profits..ORC STOP buckling to lobby groups who care only for their own profits.
Oh for a time again when all kids could paddle in almost any water, dogs could splash without getting poisoned, and nature flourished. The kiwi "dream" we enjoyed. Gone now due to business degrading and poisoning our natural areas. Instead we have water and nature being screwed for personal profit. Extinction of our native flora and fauna exponentially in past decade in farmers wetlands and waterways.
Good on you, Marion Hobbs for being so brave and standing up to these personal profit/greed forces! For YEARS the ORC has procrastinated& pandered to strong lobby business groups. Now it's finally in the public arena. ORC councillors: be on the *correct* side of history. Instead of obfuscating& procrastinating, passionately protect the nature you should be passing to your kids. Too much private profit lobbying at expense of the public and ecological good. You are there to follow law. This murky obfuscation needs to stop. Or bring in a commissioner.
Blah blah blah...as long as Hobbs leaves I don't think anybody cares if an independent, unbiased commissioner comes in and provides some leadership. This circus proves beyond a doubt Hobbs lacks the leadership skills to remain as chair. The entire board is disfunctional but reflects the lack of leadership by Hobbs. And stop already with the obsufcation, everybody wants to see legal compliance with applicable environmental law. That's not the issue. The issues is a personal one between the chair and board. You can't get the round peg in the square hole! The water is poisened and Hobbs and the 9 councillors are never going to work. It's 9 vs 1 with 2 cowards afraid to formally take a stand. Hobbs has to go. There are no provisions for a special election or a formal recall of Hobbs. The councillors have initiated a legal process to remove Hobbs and it needs to play out. Bring in a commissioner, whatever. None of the things you want or anybody else wants is ever going to happen with Hobbs as chair. The disfunction will put everything at a standstill until the next election. Why Hobbs would put herself through this is beyond me? Huge ego I guess.
Making big assumptions that pollution of natural water is caused solely or even mainly or even significantly by farmers and dairy farmers at that. I remember a polluted water way being checked out and the culprit was ducks. In many other areas, it is septic tank leakage. Rivers and waterways dry up because of droughts which, like all extreme weather events are increasing. But people will always look for simplistic answers, especially if they can find a scapegoat to blame. Have a look at this. Erosion is a big problem. But there's more! And the 'dirty dairying' is already being addressed. And if you live in a town or a city, you might be part of the problem yourself from what you put down the drain. And if you drive a car, that contributes to pollution on the road surface which later gets washed down the drains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution_in_New_Zealand#:~:text=Sed....
ORC needs stability and an environmental view for balancing business interests and ecology/mauri
Mr brazil and others supporting Hobbs need to realise they have been played by Hobbs. She is saying the others do not want to implement the NPSFM or care for the environment. This is her angle but is 100% a ploy. Take the initiative and do an OIA request and get access to the emails in question, then you will learn Hobbs is telling lies, undermining the Council and is playing the uninformed like a fiddle.
There is no doubt this is about policy and process. It has nothing to do with leadership. Not once has any councillor said what Hobbs has done, or not done, to show a lack of leadership. Equally, it is clear there are many conflicts of interest amongst these self-entitled councillors. They hold water rights, had election campaigns funded by farming lobbiests and have intentionally stalled or diluted much needed legislation that would protect the environment for all of us.
Hobbs deserves our support!
Yep...what do you call what she is doing now? Lack of leadership. If the ORC is this fragmented and disfunctional it's because of a lack of leadership. Hobbs has to go!
It is ludicrous to assume that greens as recycled communists have the only answer to conserving the environment.
Conservation and conservatism are almost the same word. Big top down solutions never work. Conservation must be local and the global bureaucrats must get out of the way, or be voted into obscurity.
Taieri B - 'Labour/green madness' as you call it, is alive and sane. They are mad at councillors that do not adhere to the promises that got them elected.