Inquiry as a witch hunt

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Friday’s ‘Bashed’ by slash headline shows continuing misinformation and bias by media. The eight-week inquiry is not complete and media are turning this into a witch hunt against the forestry industry. 
Farmers and the council have been very quiet over their part of culpability for mobilised silt and woody debris. Federated Farmers in particular is making a lot of unnecessary noise and is just looking for someone to blame.
The fact that all forestry blocks are harvested only under strict resource management consent conditions monitored by the council has received no media coverage.
Driving around the district, the high number and magnitude of slips on hill country pastoral land versus forestry land is immediately evident.
Satellite imagery being used as part of the inquiry will also show the large amount of silt and trees stripped directly from riverbanks in what was a biblical rain event.

Chris Mcgrath