Not waving a placard, but wanting a pause
I am 74 years old. I was born in Dunedin, educated in Dunedin, and have lived within an hour of this city for most of my life.
I have watched Central Otago change across six decades — some of it for the better, some of it not.
I am not a greenie. I am not a protester. I have never carried a placard in my life and I do not intend to start now. But I find myself deeply troubled by what I am reading about the Bendigo-Ophir gold mine, and I feel I should say so.
What concerns me is not the idea of mining itself. Central Otago has a mining history and I respect that.
What concerns me is the scale of what is being proposed, the speed at which it is being pushed through, and the way anyone who raises a question about it is being dismissed.
I watched Shane Jones on the television telling us that Otago is empty. I have lived here my whole life and I can assure the minister that it is not.
It is full of water, landscape, wildlife and people who have built quiet, decent lives here over generations. That is not nothing.
I also read the comments about the Māori groups opposing the mine — the accusations of standover tactics. I know something about how this country has treated its Māori communities, and I am uneasy about how quickly some are willing to reach for that kind of language the moment Māori say no to something a company wants.
My grandchildren will inherit whatever we decide here. The company’s own paperwork says the rehabilitation will not be finished until 2065.
I will be long gone by then. So will the executives. So will the politicians currently championing this. But my grandchildren will still be here.
I am asking the panel to take its time and get this right.
The gold will still be in the ground if we need another year to be sure. The landscape will not grow back on the same schedule.
Blot on the landscape
I applaud Sir Ian Taylor and others for their well-researched argument for stopping the mine's fast track application.
The mining company will argue they can minimise the danger but there is another aspect of open pit mining that no one can refute. That is the fact that the actual shape of this iconic landscape will be forever changed from the mottled hues of the rugged rocky tussock-clad hills with a complete ecosystem of Central Otago flora and fauna into bright green rolling hills as if the English Shropshire Downs had been transported to our backyard.
No more will be the sight of shimming summer light on schist-rock tors or skiffs of early snow on tussock to signal winter’s soon arrival. The truth of this is on our doorstep at McRaes Flat where in a short couple of decades a landscape of similar proportions to Bendigo has been obliterated and rebuilt like a moonscape made from green play dough.
You only need to take a short detour from the Pigroot road to see the future of Bendigo laid bare before you. The rocks have gone, the tussocks have gone, the native plants reptiles insects and birds have gone.
That’s entertainment
Cr Ong speaks of his "delivery for our community" being thwarted by unsupportive colleagues on the Dunedin City Council (ODT 29.4.26).
As far as my household can see, the only thing he has delivered ratepayers thus far is grim and costly entertainment.
Newt beginning of the end of civility in politics
If there is one person, one event, that I would say has led to the current circus debacle of the US political scene, it would be the era of Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich was the Speaker of the US House of Representatives from 1995-99, the era of President Bill Clinton.
Mr Gingrich was a Republican. He began referring to the Democratic Party as the "enemy" rather than the historically polite "loyal opposition".
He stonewalled and frustrated President Clinton at every chance even when his own party would have agreed to good legislation.
The bold headline "Ex-Nat MP" calling for "war" (ODT 2.5.25) immediately reminded me of Speaker Gingrich.
If there is one thing I could say to Chris Finlayson, if I met him, is "watch your language". You may start something you, or at least the country, will come to regret.
One does not easily compromise with an opponent in war, in other words, the enemy. The grisly coalition may be unpleasant, but like a divorce, it's best settled as uncontested dissolution.
It's nowhere near as messy as a war. The nation will be better for it.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
