Debates about the environment and mining are likely to play a prominent role in New Zealand politics in 2012. Despite National's political mismanagement of - and eventual back down over - its proposal to allow significant new mining on conservation land in 2010, this year the Government is likely to aggressively pursue the growth of a larger extractive industry. This is reflected in three important recent items: Neil Reid's NZ 'likely Texas of the south', Adam Bennett's Government plans to make mineral exploration easier, and the Sunday Star Times' editorial NZ's too poor to stop the search for oil (which is not currently available online). You can also listen to Mike Hosking discuss the 'billions of barrels' of oil off the East Coast with GNS Science's Chris Uruski here.
The reported potential for those 'billions of barrels' will no doubt reignite public debate about the extractive industry. On the one hand there is its potential for creating wealth, employment, and economic growth. But opponents are quick to identify environmental concerns, and also question where the wealth from increased drilling and mining is likely to end up. In line with this, TVNZ has a report questioning whether the state is currently receiving enough money from those mining on Department of Conservation land - see: DOC income for conservation land under scrutiny. Apparently, the 78 mining companies using conservation land are together paying DOC less than a million dollars a year for the privilege.
The Ports of Auckland dispute continues to dominate New Zealand politics. The Herald has attempted to provide a balanced overview and analysis in its Sunday editorial, Cool heads needed at the port. Also in the Herald, Matt McCarten demands that Ports CEO Tony Gibson be sacked, and suggests that Len Brown is being naive or disingenuous in his role in the dispute - see: It's time to step up, Mr Mayor. For a more rightwing analysis of the dispute, see two other items: Brian Gaynor's Port's viability hinges on dispute outcome and John Roughan's Port makes its own case for sale.
The Green's new leftwing MP, Denise Roche, has broken her party's silence on the issue in her Frogblog post, Ports of Auckland's agenda: Casualisation, union-busting and privatization.
Rather than a strong endorsement of the port workers however, her post concentrates on Green concerns about the environmental angle, privatisation and local democracy.
Labour partisans have been defending their party's neglect of the issue. Rob Carr argues that 'given the level of media attention already given to these strikes public support from Labour is not needed... Labour should save its press releases for when strikes are getting ignored'. John Pagani also offers up a defence of Labour's silence (Ports and the unprincipled politics of fudge); which, according to Danyl Mclauchlan, can be summed up as: 'Labour cannot speak up for workers because it loves them so much'.
