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Thousands this morning took part in a march up Queen Street to protest the government’s mining plans.
Greenpeace’s Sign On climate campaign Robyn Malcolm said the government’s “draconian mining plans seem like something from another age.”
A coalition of environmental groups had organised the protest at the government’s mining plans.
It comes days before the consultation process ends.
14,000 submissions have come in so far commenting on the government proposal to remove sections of protected “Section Four” areas of land presently off limits to mining.
News media and police estimates of the numbers of protest marches are always questionable - one veteran protestor thought there were about 40,000.
ALSO: People claiming to be pro-mining clash-Video, Photos
Massive public transport fail leaves people stranded
10 Comments
Branching out into general news reporting?
Didn’t go, but did submit…
Of course, many of us who marched caught the train.
Claire
These marchers need to get a life, most modern mines, and I expect nearly all but a couple in NZ actually leave the environment in better condition than found, just look at our own 100% pure posters for proof of that.
Of course there is always the exception to the fact, but we already experienced our f**k up in New Zealand and have put in consent conditions where they have to deposit millions of dollars as a bond, so it’s cheaper for them to do it properly. I don’t see any problem with this and I think people just want something to protest about now-days.
It would make more sense putting this effort to stop the unbalanced funding in transport.
“most modern mines, and I expect nearly all but a couple in NZ actually leave the environment in better condition than found”
Are you serious Joshua..? I seriously hope not, that might be the spin from the mining industry and Brownlee but is not based in reality, in fact an NZ mining company was found guilty of breaching the weak pollution laws in an NZ court just last week for releasing toxic materials illegally…
Even the most “surgical” of mines still creates a massive amount of toxic tailings that still have to go somewhere…
I bit of reading and correct info might be an idea before denigrating me and other marchers…
I got no problem with mining in general (our resources gotta come from somewhere), and I do believe that in most cases, things will be relatively fine these days (though accidents do happen, so yes, big bonds will be needed).
BUT the royalties for NZ will be so low, and the “original sin” of allowing mining in National Parks and conservation areas just for profit’s sake will be too significant to allow this.
I did a research topic on mining techniques, my research topic was to identify the harm these mine’s do on the environment, however throughout my research I found that new modern mines are now needing to meet very strict national consent conditions which focus highly on environment protection. Yes there will be toxins released, however these are controlled to the point where they are now equal to what is naturally released.
I stand by my comments however don’t want to get into a deep discussion about it here as this is a transport forum. My point was it would have been more benefical if they were protesting the un-balanced funding of transport in New Zealand rather than the minimal unseen threat of Mining, it would be better for our society, better for our environment and better for our international identity if we focused our efforts on these important issues we are facing rather than if we are going to drill some hole’s in the national park.
I’m sorry if I’m being blunt, but it seems to me as if this protest was a bunch of people who have a blurry idea of what minning is, and havn’t followed the development and technological advancement of the industry. However I will admit due to a research paper that I completed a couple of years ago, I maybe baised to a point because of the knowledge I have gained.
I think agreeing to disagree on this on a transport forum is a good idea…
@Clare
“Of course, many of us who marched caught the train.”
Or tried to only to be turned away as the western line carriages were too full to pick up passengers at the last 7 stops.
Hi
I marched first time ever. More than just the mining which will destory the Coromandel beauty. There is also the issue of roading, roads around the Coromandel are narrow and already cope with alot of traffic. These roads are not built for the heavy traffic on them now so ad mining to the mix and the governement will have to spend millions. There is also the flooding that happens yearly blocking roads. It is a short term gain for long term pain for future generations
The media needs to stop making the march against mining just about lucy lawless and robyn malcolm because it’s not just about them