Tim Gilbertson
Well done, Rex and the Gang of Four.
Our intrepid Regional Council has vowed to relocate and re-educate everyone who disagrees with them.
Mission almost accomplished. Andy Pearse, head of the HBRIC and arch villain of the Dam went quietly.
Andrew Newman, CEO of HBRIC and deputy arch villain probably made a little more noise.
The Council, in my view, was lucky not to face a constructive dismissal claim, which would have set the cat amongst the pigeons. Luckily, common sense, a rarity at that political level, prevailed and Andrew has resigned to pursue other interests.
In such cases a going away present is traditionally presented. The details of any such transactions will no doubt surface in due course in the annual accounts buried on page 243, Section 4 Para 7.11 under Incidental Expenses.
Like many citizens, I feel aggrieved. When I resigned from my hay carting job at Southern Haulage in 1979, all I got was two weeks holiday pay and a beer at the Settlers Arms in Ormondville. Is that justice?
Andrew Newman did a sterling job under difficult circumstances. By his own admission he was a feisty character, but he deserves credit for getting things rolling and the Mushroom Gang deserve no credit for the years of what I believe were personal attacks on a public servant, who is by convention unable to defend himself.
Interestingly enough, the same affliction struck the CHB District Council some months ago. Their Building Inspection Department had a well-deserved reputation for being hopeless.
One Friday afternoon a senior staff member in that department decided to resign forthwith to pursue other interests. Despite his voluntary resignation, the Council felt it appropriate to speed him on his way with a cheque for about $100,000. I was somewhat aggrieved at that as well.
When I resigned from my Pea Vining job at Watties in 1978, all I got was two weeks holiday pay and a dozen damaged tins of baked beans. How unfair is that? To their credit, CHBDC reformed the Building Department and happiness has replaced discord.
Having clinically assassinated two major proponents of the RWSS and thereby slaughtered one particularly pesky dragon, The Regional Council is now taking on the Oil and Gas Industry.
They plan to ban oil and gas exploration in the most of the region. Rex says that Council has very strong community support on this and we should carry on.
As the driver of an electric car, I am less concerned about the availability of petrol than most.
I've not seen strong community support for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars taking on of Exon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, some of the biggest and wealthiest companies in the world, over an issue that has little relevance for the majority of those the Mushroom Gang represent.
I have noticed strong community support for water storage in the Tukituki and Ngaruroro catchments. I haven't seen demonstrators waving banners saying "Bring Back Horses".
But I am the first to admit that I may be mistaken. In a recent article in this newspaper Bruce Bisset, a regular columnist and staunch ally of the anti RWSS brigade wrote "Let's dispel the biggest myth about the dam scheme. It has nothing to do with ameliorating drought conditions ....because the flats and rolling hill country in the 200 farm zone that could benefit.. ..are by and large already irrigated "" .
The 25,000 hectares targeted for irrigation claims Bruce are already irrigated. Unless Bruce has invented and deployed the invisible irrigating gun, this is news to me and the other 180 who have signed up for water.
A future Hawke's Bay with no water and no petrol, littered with invisible centre pivot irrigators will be a great desert to live in.
Unfortunately there will be no hay to cart and no peas to harvest but since those jobs never got the golden parachutes they deserved, it may be no great loss.
We can grow dates, breed camels and spend our time deepening our wells. That's if Dromedaries and dates aren't on the HBRC hit list destined for extermination by popular demand.
We live in hope, but remain fearful.
Tim Gilbertson is a farmer, former mayor of Central Hawke's Bay and former Hawke's Bay regional councillor. His column appears every fortnight on a Saturday. All opinions are his and not those of Hawke's Bay Today.