SUSIE THE LIBERTARIAN: Saving the Environment from Environmentalism [updated]

I'm very happy to post the first post from another of my new regular contributors here at NOT PC: Susan from libertarian headquarters.  Sadly, the subject is not such a happy one ... it's this weasel here:

Prime Minister-designate John Key announced his Cabinet yesterday ahead of being sworn in as New Zealand’s 37^th Prime Minister this week.  It’s a big Cabinet, consisting of 28 Ministers and Associate Ministers for everything, by the looks of it, except for Africa itself. Although if Bob Geldof had his way …. but I digress.

All the usual suspects are there, along with the truly stupid Ministries of Arts & Culture, Rugby World Cup and, of all things, Disarmament. I thought there was nothing left to disarm, but there we go. The patronising Ministries of Women’s and Pacific Island Affairs still exist and ACC does not look to be privatised in the near future, more’s the pity.

And Nick Smith acquired the Environment portfolio, which was such a sure bet that the TAB would not have been interested. Which makes him the new Minister for the RMA. 

It’s true that his skin has been forest green for some time, but rather than ease up a bit, he has only become more fanatical as time goes by.  Nick’s positively in love with nature, which is great. So am I. But his prescription for its survival is very different from mine. Nick’s environmental values would not be out of place in the Green party. And that alone should worry any working New Zealander with at least half a functioning brain. For an example of what can happen – quickly - when zealotry prevails, let me take you on a wee trip around the British countryside under New Labour.

The last decade of British country life has seen angry clashes between supporters of traditional country pursuits and the “antis,” the latter of which are lead by violent, well-organised, urban protestors who have a hatred of the former that verges upon the pathological.

I spent a long winter in rural North Yorkshire 25 years ago. I learned two things about the fox: 1) that it has no natural enemy, and 2) that it is not a cute dog. On the contrary, it’s a lethal killing machine. It kills for fun, not for food. If a fox gets into a henhouse, it will leave nothing alive.

Personally, foxhunting wasn’t my favourite thing. But it was the countryside’s method of keeping fox numbers at manageable levels. It is not easy to catch a fox; it is notoriously quick and the hounds track by scent rather than sight. They are killed (by hounds) with one quick blow to the neck, not the messy, protracted affair as the antis would have you believe. The pursuit provides employment for thousands and has been enjoyed for centuries.

Clarissa Dickson Wright of Two Fat Ladies cookery fame, in her superb autobiography Spilling the Beans, states that the ban on foxhunting came about largely as Tony Blair’s quid pro quo for the invasion of Iraq, in order to appease his party’s extreme. Fox numbers have obviously risen markedly since, resulting in increasing stock losses for farmers and small-holders alike and the adverse implications thereof.

Dickson Wright has become something of a spokesman for the countryside movement. After the death of her on-screen partner Jennifer Paterson, she co-hosted a television series for the BBC entitled Clarissa & the Countryside, with each episode concentrating on a particular rural subject. It was very well-received and she quotes one instance where the editor of “Scotland on Sunday,” after watching an episode on the requirements of the grouse moor, printed an article bemoaning his ignorance as to the moors’ necessity in being managed for longevity and retracting previous critical editorial. It is interesting to note that, in spite of her roaring success in this country with Two Fat Ladies, the rural series was not purchased by TVNZ. Guess it didn’t sit well with Labour’s Charter, eh…

There is also the UK ban on shooting birds of prey, which has resulted in the rapid decline in the numbers of smaller British birds as their larger counterparts vie for food sources. Additionally, the birds of prey attack ewes by blinding them so as to easily prey upon their newborn lambs. The interference from Whitehall has negatively impacted upon the lives and livelihoods of thousands and been the ruination of many.

Now all this might seem like it's half a world and a different political party away from Nick the Dick, our new Minister for the Environment, but the essentials remain the same, i.e., the essence and ramifications of interference by central planners upon YOUR property and, perhaps, YOUR livelihood under the banner of protecting the environment. And with the weasel having been given the added portfolio of Climate Change in addition to that of The Environment, you can bet your ever decreasing dollar that Nick Smith has every intention of stamping his mark upon New Zealand, both rural and urban.

Oh, and regarding ACC? He’s got that, too. Just thought you’d like to know. ;)

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By the way, Clarissa Dickson Wright is the daughter of the brilliant heart surgeon, Sir Arthur Dickson Wright, who was also a brutal alcoholic. Her mother was an Australian heiress. Clarissa studied for a law degree and remains the youngest woman in UK legal history to be admitted to the Bar, aged 21. She was a contemporary of Tony Blair and Jack Straw, among others.  Her autobiography Spilling the Beans is an extraordinary read and, to quote one of the many favourable reviews, it left me flabbergasted. I highly recommend it.

NB: More posts here detailing what this pillock plans for the RMA -- in short, bugger all:

• Put Smith down, and move him away from the Cabinet! - NOT PC
• Nats' RMA confidence trick exposed - NOT PC
• National's RMA Policy "like a chocolate-coated turd" - NOT PC

UPDATE:  "Snap quiz: how many ministries does the New Zealand government have, as in Minister of This and Minister for That?"  For answers, head to the Kiwi Polemicist, who's "undertaken the herculean task" of writing a list of them all: "as you read consider not only the number of ministries, but also which areas of your life (and other people’s) that our slave masters deem it necessary to manage."