By Katharine Moody*The Coalition government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is proving highly controversial – so much so, I suspect the poor polling performance of the coalition parties, might have a bit to do with the widespread public distaste generated by this authoritarian-style, executive branch decision-making in environmental management. The kerfuffle arising from the Bill, reminds me of the last time a National Government tried to substantively reform the Resource Management Act (RMA), as a means to ‘tip’ the legislation in favour of development. As Jacques Derrida theorised, each binary oppositional privileges one side over the other, and to my mind, attempting to ‘strike a balance’ between the economy and the environment in environmental management decision-making, is a futile exercise. ♦ Development conflict: The conflict between human prosperity and environmental protection. ♦ Resource conflict: The conflict between the economic and the ecologic utility of natural resources.

Source: Stuff May 04, 2024 05:16 UTC