Submit!

The Local Government and Environment Committee has called for submissions on the Environmental Reporting Bill. Submissions are due by Thursday, 17 April 2014, and can be sent via the online form linked above, or to:

Local Government and Environment Committee Secretariat
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

While the bill purports to be about environmental reporting, it is in fact about environmental secrecy. What gets reported on will be up to Ministers, allowing them to exclude controversial areas like dirty dairying. And a clause in the bill will override the OIA and require that basic environmental statistics be kept secret by default. The bill can possibly be salvaged, but a lot of people will have to speak out about it to do so.