April 09, 2013
Sea protest ban expected
A lawyer for Te Whanau ā Apanui says a ban on protests at sea against oil exploration was expected.
There has been widespread public outrage at Energy Minister Simon Bridges’ proposed amendment to the Crown Minerals Act that would require protest boats to stay at least 500 metres from a drilling or survey vessel.
Dayle Takitimu says it’s clear the government was embarrassed when the district court threw out charges against fisherman Elvis Teddy, who was arrested when he dropped his nets in front of a ship surveying the Raukumara Basin for Brazilian company Petrobras.
“It appeared that they had assumed some criminal jurisdiction out past 12 nautical miles that they neglected to legislate and it had seen them with eggs on their faces to the oil industry internationally, who had been busy pimping New Zealand waters out to. We did anticipate post-Tauranga judgement that they would poly-full that piece that hadn’t stood up to the test for them,” she says.
Dayle Takitimu says New Zealand has a long history of protests to protect the marine environment, and she doesn’t expect the law will stop people taking to the water to make their views known.
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