When I suggested Plan Change 6 would improve the rivers, she had never heard of it.
Greenpeace has campaigned ceaselessly against the dam on the grounds that it will inevitably lead to intensive dairying and more pollution.
To say that the dam will inevitably have that effect is like saying that anyone who owns an axe will inevitably become an axe murderer.
It is nonsense. Greenpeace, once a standard bearer for integrity, now resembles the bogeymen they oppose.
Minister Peter Dunne says it is a fact that the dam is widely rejected locally and will certainly inflict significant environmental damage (Baybuzz Magazine June 20, 2016, page 80).
I rang his office and asked for evidence. Like Greenpeace, he could provide none. His spokesman said he thought the article was based on some information from someone in Canterbury but he couldn't be sure.
On the contrary, Dr John Hayes of the Cawthron Institute has published research on improving water quality. Southland Fish and Game Manager Zane Moss says it is "outstanding in an international context" and will have global significance.
Dr Hayes concludes that "In New Zealand, Regional Councils may need to revise upwards minimum flows and water allocation limits downwards." (NZ Farmer: June 27, 2016 Page 30/31 ) That is exactly what the dam scheme proposes.
A recent survey in Central Hawke's Bay showed 72 per cent of urban respondents were very keen on the dam. (Crowd Count Sept 2/3 2016) Four hundred people went to a pro-dam rally in Waipawa last November. Seven people attended a council annual plan meeting two months earlier. Clearly indicating widespread support for the dam (and widespread indifference towards politics). And that is informed comment unswayed by three years of biased speculation
They recognise that irrigating 25,000 hectares responsibly will revitalise and benefit the whole region as it has done in Canterbury.
They agree with Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher who said "The Waitaki District is buzzing as irrigation plays its part in driving business opportunities ... There are plenty of knockers ... but we are going places largely due to irrigation." (Irrigation NZ News. Winter 2016 Page 7)
There is general agreement that climate change and misuse means water is the new gold. Yet Mike Williams, a high profile Aucklander, ex NZ labour party chairman and boss of the highly respected Howard League for Penal Reform, writes that the dam is "a massive gamble with ratepayers money". (HB Today Sept 3, 2016. "I will be rattling many cages this election.")
Ill-informed rubbish.
It is an investment yielding 6.5% per annum and after 70 years the community owns a $370 million asset.
A peer review of the project by Deloittes (HBRC minutes. July 8, 2016) gave it the thumbs up.
So what does Mike know about the dam that we don't and when will he share that info with the public?
Anyone can be a Winston Peters and fire the machine gun from the armchair. Not one of these critics has come up with a better idea. Lucerne and on-farm storage have been suggested. Lucerne is hardy but it still needs water and building dams where little rain falls is like running a pub with no beer.
The anti-dam lobby is an example of massive, unremitting one-sided spin almost completely devoid of any factual backing.
There is a good chance the dam will be kyboshed by the incoming HBRC Councillors after the elections on October 8.
If that happens, I wonder in a decade or so when global warming really kicks in and all our Hawke's Bay mokopuna are trekking off to Melbourne or Europe, how the knockers will feel then?
I suspect they won't care. They will be watching The Real Housewives of Auckland and polishing their machine guns ready to ping off the next inspired idealist who pops up with an idea that might help the bank balance, the planet and the children of the future.
Tim Gilbertson is standing as a candidate for the Hawke's Bay Regional Council. He is an ex-chairman of Waipukurau Federated Farmers and served as Mayor of Central Hawke's Bay and as an HBRC councillor.
