An assault on our senses

Insights Newsletter
22 June, 2018

A couple of years ago we got the lads together and set off on a South Island road trip. It was a great opportunity to get away from the rat race and show some of my North Island mates around the South Island. Beers, banter, and beaut scenery.

On day three we pulled into Westport. “What’s that smell?”, asked one of the blokes.

Bemused, I responded to my North Island friend, “Coal, mate. It’s what they do here.”

The West Coast is synonymous with mining. And that’s why the recent decision to refuse a new mine is a kick in the guts for their local economy.

Last week Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Energy Minister Megan Woods declined an application for a new coal mine just out of Westport. Perhaps, like my friend, they both have a fastidious sense of smell.

On the West Coast, mining is a way of life that goes back well over a hundred years. Just down the road in Blackball is the spiritual home of the Labour Party. A party founded by miners.

Just as back then, Coasters know that mining means jobs. Well paying jobs. The Te Kuha proposal would have directly created 64 full-time jobs, and another 24 indirect full-time jobs throughout the region.

But can you imagine if that smell got any worse?

With Minister Sage approving the Otakiri Springs water bottling decision a few weeks earlier, West Coasters may have got their hopes up that the Te Kuha mine decision would go their way.

The Minister and government quite properly faced a backlash from their party members over the water bottling decision. It would give small town locals jobs and upset the sensibilities of the city dwellers who vote based on decisions affecting an environment in which they don’t live.

Public submissions to the Department of Conservation on the mining decision largely treat the interests of West Coasters as being as important as the comments section on the Stuff website.

Coasters may have thought that the mine would provide them with high paying jobs and more money in their regional economy.

But they really ought to be thankful for this decision. It shows that the government truly cares about the welfare and wellbeing of New Zealanders.

Yes, it might be a kick in the guts for the local economy. But how else could city-based yuppies pass through Westport without an assault on their senses? 

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