Feds challenge cultural vales rules in Gore - Jason Herrick

0:00This is a podcast from Rover. Right, here's an interesting one for you. So federated farmers put out a media release yesterday saying controversial new requirements for every farmer in Goa to have resource consent assessed by Naitahu cultural values or against Naitahu cultural values. They're saying it's excessive and unworkable. So I thought we'd get Jason Herrick on the Southland Fed farmers president to explain exactly what's going on here because I think I'm a little bit confused. Jason's nice to have you on. How you doing? Yeah, thanks for having me, Dom. Definitely, I can see how it can be a confusing situation. Well, I thought this was already taken care of because I'm sure we spoke about this a few years ago where the council there was going through something similar and then decided to scrap it. Can you give me the history of this? Yeah, so this is actually the Goa District Plan. So when they released it in 2020-23,

1:04they had the whole area classed as a site of significance to Māori. Our site's a area of significance to Māori. And that required everybody to engage with the local Rūnanga and EEW on a consenting process adding a whole lot of complexity, cost and time to all consents. And that was just going to be unworkable in a sense. And they had that written in what the class is, the Saisam chapter in the plan. And when we all submitted against it and bought it to the attention to the council, they decided to scrap that chapter, but they replaced it with the Cultural Values chapter, which is pretty much the same thing just with a different name. And the way that they have released the plan, so they have notified the plan after all the consultation and submissions and the hearings.

2:04And this is where we've landed, and it really hasn't changed a whole lot since they released the Saisam chapter. So we absolutely believe this is the right thing to do. We need to appeal this. Not just for farmers, but for people in the Goa and Matilda towns as well, right? So because anything they do with their land are going to need a cultural assessment as well, and it's all the way it's written. So yeah, we're in constant dialogue with local Roenanger and the people involved. What's the local Roenanger said about this? You're like, I mean, they just want what's best for the area and the protection of those sites, of significance around the area. There's no two ways about that. This is all in the way it's written and the wording. All this, we firmly believe here at Feds, all this is going to do is destroy relationships between the local Roenanger farmers and members of the public

3:05because of the bureaucracy involved in getting a consent or actually doing anything on your property. For instance, use a silage bat as an example. If a farmer wanted to change the direction of a silage bat or shift it slightly or modify it, it's going to need a cultural assessment done, and that's just going to be time, delay, cost, complexity, all of those things. Same with anybody doing some earth works in their backyard and go, so to speak, if they wanted to build a swimming pool or whatever before the shift in your soil they're going to need a cultural assessment on the soil, in case it has a cultural impact on the soil. It's all in the way it's written and the Roenanger definitely don't want that side of it. Their interpretation is different to the way it's written and so it's the way it's written that's the problem and we need to make sure we get that sort of properly. Why would Canada go down this road

4:08when it's already proven to be popular? What's the point? I'm still kind of confused. Yeah, so when they notified the plan and they rewrote it and then notified it, they filled it up with a whole lot of legal, complex jargon. I call it just to confuse us, and we really had to dig deep and involve lawyers to decipher it all. And I said it at the YMMO show in a panel I sat on around the evaluation that I firmly believe that planners and councils all live on a different planet to the rest of us. So these guys need to be pulled into line. They need to be shown a little bit of reality and a bit of common sense wouldn't go on this in their daily planning. So they're trying to get things past the goalpost by making it fairly complex if people don't understand it. But again, we've just got to work together as a community and get this right because this sets a precedent for the rest of the country

5:09if we don't. Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same thing. So I want to have a look actually at what the actual, I guess, parameters for this are. So we're talking about things like life force, spiritual connections, restoring balance, relationships between life forms, et cetera, et cetera, these sorts of things. They sound very, I guess, spiritual in nature. Absolutely, you know, and it's really important to the local ewe that we do respect any side of significance to them, right? And the way we want this is if somebody does find something of significance, would like them to be notified, right? They'd notify the local runer and work together with them and so on. All this is going to do is create people to hide stuff, right?

6:09And it not get to the channels it needs to get to and the protection is put in place it needs to be protected. You know, we do have some history here in New Zealand. We'd like to protect that history. No two ways about it. But we've got to have a common sense way of working around this and make sure it's good for everybody. Because it seems to me that my toe who seems to be very progressive, shit, they've done so, a lot of good work. They support a lot of things around the South Island. They seem exceedingly savvy when it comes to business. I just can't imagine that Naitahi who would be wanting, you know, to put sort of roadblocks in the way of progress. It just doesn't, that doesn't fit. Exactly. And that's their sentiment as well from the conversations that I've had with them. At the end of the day, and all they want is the protection of those sites of significance and any new sites that get found.

7:10Right? And they just want to work with the communities and that's what they're telling us. So we've got to take them on their word and so on. And, you know, I've got a bit of multi heritage too. In Naitahi who, Dom, and, you know, I'm looking into my family history in that as well, doesn't mean to say that I'm going to be fully involved with Naitahi who, but at the end of the day, I'm here for every New Zealander, not just for Māori, not just for Pakihā or any other ethnic background. I'm here for everybody. So then, would it just be a case of, I don't know, what's the gore council thinking here? What, what, what, what sort of feedback have you had from these guys? I've tried to get in touch with Ben Bell because initially he said to me earlier on, if we were thinking about appealing to get in contact with the local mayor and have a discussion and see if you could come to a resolution. But to be honest, the only way to sort this is through an appeal process. I have tried to ring them in the last couple of days. He's not returning my calls and he's not answering them.

8:11So we'll see. I'll get in contact with them eventually. And see where we land. We all know that gore district council have absolutely no money. There is brokers, anything. They won't want this to go to court. We're hoping to put it through a mediation process. But if we have to take this to court, that'll be the direction we have to go. I think back when it was first motored or you can correct me on this if I'm not getting it right. But there's something like 91 rules or standards that would be assessed when applying for a consent. Is that right? Are we talking about 91 in terms of this sort of the cultural impacts? Yeah, correct. So rather than being permitted activities, these things, 91 things that are listed, that's how they analyse the cultural impact. And if they believe that it's going to have a cultural impact, then it's got to go through that consenting phase

9:12and doesn't become permitted after all. So yeah, like I said, it's complex. The way it's written and the wording needs to change to make it more user friendly, a bit of common sense and a bit of reality. So is this a bit of a Gore District Council thing going? I mean, the fact that you haven't been able to get hold of the mayor to clarify otherwise, I guess it leaves it open to speculation. I mean, it seems to me like it's kind of, they might have a bit of ego on their face maybe because their original proposal had a lot of backlash or they're just trying to, I don't know, seem to be doing the right thing or something like that. I mean, we can only hypothesise as to their intention, I suppose. Absolutely, I don't know. We don't know what we don't know until we had that discussion with them. We'll find out initially the mayor's comments to me was he was really happy with where the plan had landed. Clearly, he didn't understand it himself, I would say. Or he was trying to sway me in a different direction,

10:15I don't know. But, you know, I've come to learn that Councils operate differently to the rest of a storm and we've just got to keep doing what we're doing to keep them honest. Make sure they're pointed in the right direction that is in the best interest of all ratepayers and their regions. Because it seems suspiciously to me like it's a case of the Council having far too much say over what someone does with their individual property. Agreed. It's almost a roading property rights and that's what we stand for. Everybody has property rights and they must maintain those property rights and not take it away from the individuals. And that just seems to be what's happening more and more. So we'll just keep fighting the fight and keep standing up for the fallers and lessers on the ground and make sure we get what's right. That Ben Bell, you mentioned to me earlier, he's the young fella, isn't he? Yeah, he's a young fella. And obviously, it's quite a bit of life experience under his about into the future

11:15and that will help him in good stead to lead the way for councils in the future. But we'll just keep working with him and see where we end up. So what's the process from here? You're obviously going to appear what's the timeline around that? So yeah, it all depends on the court process. So the court lays down the parameters around it. So once we lodge an appeal, we'll get notified if anyone else appears, we will get notified of their appeals. And so on. And then we start talking and then decide whether we're going down the court route or intermediation. Because it seems to me just to finish up here and I do appreciate your time. It's got an element here of far too much interpretation. Once you open these things up to people's personal interpretations, you're just opening a can of worms

12:15that's going to be very, very difficult to put back in. Exactly. And that's the conversation I'm having with the local Roon Unger, you know, even though the people in charge of the Roon Unger are now their interpretations different, the way it's written, anybody who comes in in the future can interpret it in a totally different manner and absolute rule with an iron fist. And we don't want that, right? And we don't want anybody to be put in that position. So like I said, we've got to get this right. Good man. I'll let you get on with your day. We'll watch this one with interest. Cheers, Jase. You're welcome, Dom. Have a great weekend. And am I going to see it? Want to go show this year? Are you definitely, yeah, you're heading down, are you? I'm heading there right now. Ah, perfect, perfect, perfect. Yep. Well, we'll catch up. Sounds good, mate. Talk to you there. All right, buddy. Sounds great. Thanks, mate.