Gerrard Eckhoff says that regional councillors need to make their views known on infrastructure projects within their regions.
Th province of Otago has some hard decisions to make.
Multimillions of dollars have been spent on two power generation projects, Aqua and Hayes, only to have at least one of them (to date) terminated despite a pending shortfall of generation capacity.
The real signal sent, however, is that the people of Otago and their representatives do not want to see the natural resources of the region utilised.
We now find ourselves in the ludicrous situation - and have done for almost two decades - where the elected representatives of the regions do not publicly state their considered personal opinion on matters of real importance to their region.
Councillors are elected by the people to work and act in the best interests of the region but the moment a significant development comes along, little or nothing is heard from them due to fear of being accused of predetermination or bias and precluded from a hearings panel.
Most mayors and councillors appear to feel they are required to remain silent on such matters as Project Hayes.
Who better than the elected representatives to submit on behalf of the people of the region to the unelected Environment Court?
Who better to add weighting to the point of view that takes into account wider considerations than one solely based on a single factor such as landscape or economics?
Who better to give voice to counter the occasional primal scream from the well-funded and the comfortable environmental enthusiast?
How else do the people of the region know how their representatives think and vote on their behalf unless they speak out publicly?
What is the public's judgement at the ballot box actually based on?
This region may well have to deal with future applications for more dams on the Clutha and Nevis Rivers and mining in sensitive areas.
It is important that civic leaders speak out on such developments.
Do the people of Otago want to utilise our natural capital to facilitate growth or not? Part of the problem lies with the Resource Management Act.
The RMA requires councils to set environmental standards and then for councillors to sit in judgement on the very policies they wrote.
That is simply wrong and flies in the face of all the tenets of natural justice.
The Resource Management Act is hailed by some as world-leading environmental legislation.
Despite it being in operation for 20-odd years no other country has gone anywhere near to adopting a similar approach to environmental management I, for one, believe we as councillors have a duty to the region to speak out, even if we are then to be disqualified for a future hearing panel on a similar issue.
The sooner a law change that requires a hearings panel to be made up solely of commissioners - thereby freeing elected representatives to inform the public of their views and be fairly held to account at election time - the better.
• Gerrard Eckhoff is a Roxburgh farmer and Otago regional councillor.
