Lindsay Perigo
The Politically Incorrect Show - 24/01/2000
[Music - Die Fledermaus]
Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Monday January 24, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd, the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit, & excellence, against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.
[Music up, music down!]
Remember the case of the Waiheke Island property owner & the proposed "vegetation modification," as the Auckland City Council likes to call it, for which he was wondering if he needed resource consent? The "vegetation modification" that consisted of mowing weeds & gorse regrowth? The owner was advised by the Council last November 23 that he shouldn't proceed with this "vegetation modification" until the relevant officers had had the opportunity to cogitate upon the question. He was told that "this matter is currently in the hands of our senior planner & team leader, Hauraki Gulf Islands, & we will get back to you as soon as possible with a decision." He's still waiting. But get this! The "senior planner & team leader, Hauraki Gulf Islands, for the Auckland City Council" is one Bill Smeed. Mr Smeed attended the ABC (Abolish Bureaucratic Crimes) function on Great Barrier Island at which I spoke late last year. It was clear that he was not going to win any popularity contest among that audience, many of whom saw themselves as his victims, victims of bureaucratic harassment by the Auckland City Council under the Resource Management Act.
Now it turns out that Mr Smeed is not only a bureaucrat. He is also himself a property owner. He owns an island, no less, on the Waikato River called Kaiwaka II. At least, he once thought he did. Thanks to a conservation plan drawn up by the Franklin District Council under the RMA after his purchase, he found he couldn't do a thing with it. His island was earmarked as a repository of kahikatea trees, wetlands & wildlife & he had to leave it exactly as it was, consistent with the RMA's extolling of the "intrinsic value" of nature, as is, where is. Protested Mr Smeed in the Daily Marxist at the time: "Basically, my land has been taken away from me & there's nothing I can do about it. I still own it, but I can't build, I can't fell the trees, I can't do anything that may harm the native vegetation. The Resource Management Act gives all the power to councils & bureaucracy & nothing to landowners. I have learned my lesson. The next time I buy any native bush, I will mow the whole lot down & deal with the consequences afterwards."
That was fighting talk, Mr Smeed. I'm glad you learned from direct experience that the RMA abolished private property rights in this country, that it left the FAÇADE of private ownership of property intact while vesting control of it in the hands of local government & its bureaucrats. So why did you go on from there to become a senior local government bureaucrat yourself, trampling all over the property rights of those in your jurisdiction? Was it a case of, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em"? And where to from here, Mr Smeed? Don't you have some soul-searching to do? Can you reconcile your stated intention back then, next time you buy native bush, to cut it down first & ask questions later, with your remaining a bureaucratic persecutor of other property owners? Aren't there some long term career questions you should be asking yourself at this point in your life?
In the meantime, the least you could do is let that fellow from Waiheke Island mow his lawns.
Politically Incorrect Show, beating the bastards back - 309 3099.
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