A former slave named Aesop wrote around 650 fables/stories apparently, of which, The Boy Who Cried Wolf is one of his most well-known and is applicable to this very day.
As Aesop’s story goes, a shepherd boy repeatedly tricked or misled the locals into believing a wolf was attacking his sheep. The boy repeated the threat to the sheep too often as the locals (finally) did not believe that there was a problem. When a wolf attacked, no-one believed the boy and the sheep were lost to the wolf.
Today the expression of crying wolf has been replaced with the expression — sad fishing where the perpetrator uses false emotion to get attention and exaggerate the potential for harm. Sound familiar?
Sad fishing is used on social media and can cause devastating impacts on the young especially. Genuine problems which can be real but over-exaggerated can therefore be sheeted back to the expression — crying wolf.
Not for the first time, the environmental lobby has expressed outrage that mineral-rich Central Otago should be strategically mined. Some retired folks genuinely believe antimony in the Carrick range, for example, should remain untouched for, well, we retired folk to gaze upon.
Meantime the nation’s debt levels climb unimpeded by concerns of extremely low levels of productivity to be able to fund the necessities of life.
Many readers will recall the howls of indignation that the weed hieracium would, or has, destroyed so much of the middle attitude vegetation over vast areas of Central Otago hill country. The weed spread was naturally blamed on the grazing of sheep.
Yes it is true that the weed is widespread, including the site where Santana hope to mine, but the prophets of doom appear to have moved on from the hieracium problem to now describing such areas as unique and are desperate to preserve whatever else they can now find that wasn’t there under Tenure Review 20 years ago but has miraculously appeared once the mining proposal was filed.
Clearly the Department of Conservation, during the Tenure Review process some years ago now, must have felt that the Santana site had no conservation value, so it was allowed to be freeholded.
Our environment friends have a wonderful way with words such as: ‘‘This site and the values contained within are unique to the area and must be preserved.’’
Yes, most would agree if the call and cause is a genuine one. Indeed, large areas were and are preserved. Some, however, were still crying wolf then, as now as vineyards appeared and changed the ecology forever.
The exact same ‘‘values’’ at the mining site can be found all over hill country of Central Otago — over the ridges or along gullies.
These ecological values exist some metres away and are also unique to that particular area and unique to scores of other areas as well but are far from being rare or endangered.
When you are crying wolf or sad fishing, then all too often obvious realities can appear to upset the agreed and constant narrative of the lobby group but are sure to impress a hearing panel.
The problem for us all is who do we believe when completely overstating a potential problem or false accusation of environmental destruction of a hither to unseen level make the front page?
The Macraes mine and the Martha mine in the Coromandel have been operating for many years yet we still await the devastation so many seem to believe will occur any time soon.
The Martha mine produced 5.5 million ounces up until 2003 and worth an estimated $6.7 billion from the wider area. The industry in that area alone employs over 1000 staff who presumably pay tax and support local towns.
If mining stopped, what industry would replace it?
New Zealand cannot afford to ignore the potential of mining in favour of the relentless desire of the few to return our land as it once was — to the rabbit and weed, to the wilding pine and the past.
Some time ago this writer asked for a public debate between informed participants which I believe is still opportune. Knights of the realm, however, need not apply.
The real problem therefore is; if crying wolf works in the case of the Santana proposal, then when genuine risk occurs.
Whom do we believe?
• Gerrard Eckhoff is a former Otago regional councillor and Act New Zealand MP.
