Kiwis Against Seabed Mining is calling on Minister Chris Bishop to reject fellow Minister Shane Jones’ request for a meeting with the Fast-Track Panel Convenors, warning it risks political interference and undermines the integrity of the process – adding that convenors must remain independent and free from pressure.
Minister Jones has complained to media both about the time the Fast-Track process is taking, and about critical language used by the Panel Convenor overseeing wannabe seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources’ application, saying he has asked Chris Bishop to set up a meeting with the convenors.
Cindy Baxter reminded Chris Bishop that the credibility of the Fast-Track process depends on decisions being made fairly, independently, and without political interference and this is was exactly why the government changed the initial draft of the bill to remove the language giving the final consent to Ministers.
The food trucks are rolling into Raglan again this Saturday at 5pm for an evening of tasty bites, chill vibes, and community connection! They’ll be at the the Old School Arts Centre till 8pm with free entry
In Waka Ama news, Kaitawhiti Kereopa and the New Zealand Tane came 5th in the open men’s competition at the Va’a World Distance Championships in Rio this week. They were listed in 3rd place at the halfway mark and an on-screen error during the broadcast made it look like they had got the bronze medal but unfortunately it was not the case.
Kai didn’t come home empty handed though as his J19 Tane team did in fact get the bronze in their event earlier in the competition. The entire squad came back with a big medal haul including 2 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze medals, as well as top ten finishes in every other event.
It’s the last football match of the season for the Raglan Roosters. They’ll be playing at Papahua on Sunday at 1pm.
The Hamilton Masters, who spent much of the season propping up the leaderboard have continued their miraculous rise off the bottom of the table after recruiting some new star players late in the season – the sort of thing that’s not normally allowed in football leagues but in the Sunday League anything goes.
This means the Roosters are still in danger of being last in Division One of the Sunday League if they lose this game and bottom placed Komposure FC win. Competition rules are hard to find on the Sunday League website so we don’t know if this will force them into a play off with the winners of the 2nd division or if they would just go straight down.