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Labour leader David Shearer says loosening protections for Māori interests in the Resource Management Act would be a major step backwards.
The Government has released a white paper on how it plans to streamline the 22-year-old act.
Mr Shearer, who worked for the Tainui Trust Board on its land and resource claims in the late 1980s when the law was being written, says it’s a grab for centralised control.
‘You can streamline processes without doing away with all the safe guards that you need to have. I just noticed Nick Smith charging up to Auckland the other day and saying we’re going to legislate over the top of the Auckland plan and we’re going to do this and that to you. This is a government that is not listening anymore. It’s completely out of touch with people,” says David Shearer.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
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