15 June 2006

Society delighted bill to go before Parliament

The Whangamata Marina Society today welcomed the fact that Nick Smith’s Member’s Bill to remove the Ministerial power of veto over the Environment Court had been drawn from the ballot but said the Bill was not relevant to their legal action.

The Society is taking a judicial review against the Minister of Conservation, Chris Carter, to be heard in the Wellington High Court between 15 and 17 August and considers it has a very strong case.

“Our argument is that the Minister’s intervention is not legal because he misused his powers and failed to follow correct procedure,” the Society President, Mick Kelly, said.

“Nick Smith’s Bill will have no bearing on that.

“The importance of the Bill to the Society is essentially one of principle. We believe that the Environment Court process is robust and that it is inappropriate that a Minister should be able to unilaterally overturn Court decisions.

“The Bill, if passed, would also ensure that no other New Zealanders had to go through the Society’s experience and that can only be good in terms of public respect for the justice system.

“For that reason, we will be urging MPs to support it,” Mr Kelly said.

ENDS

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