So in addition to conducting mineral surveys in a World Heritage Area (behaviour one Tweeter has compared to a child saying they want to count the sweets but not eat any), the government is now permitting mining in Marine Mammal Sanctuaries:
The Government is permitting petrol and mining exploration in marine mammal sanctuaries – home to rare dolphins, whales and seals.The dolphins protected by these sanctuaries are the rarest in the world, and a national taonga. They are already regarded as critically endangered. Allowing mining in their habitat will further endanger them, and may result in further deaths - something we cannot afford when there are only 55 of them remaining.Six sanctuaries around New Zealand's coastline are meant to provide a permanent refuge for marine mammals in fisheries waters.
But Green Party MP Gareth Hughes has branded them "sham sanctuaries" as oil companies have been granted 10 permits in four of the protected areas.
He said the exploration would threaten rare sea creatures such as the endangered maui's and hector's dolphin, as well as sea lions, fur seals and southern right whales.
But our orcish government doesn't care about any of that. All they see is profits for their cronies in the mining industry. And if they have to expunge a unique species of dolphins to get it, well, that's just the cost of doing business (and a bonus for the fishing industry as well).
We should not permit this to happen. The existing exploration permits should be cancelled, and the sanctuaries added immediately to Schedule 4.
