Environmental administration to change

Press, 24 June 1985, Page 2

Environmental administration to change

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The Government is asking for patience while it works through the processes of making sweeping changes to environmental administration in New Zealand. The Under-Secretary for the Environment, Mr Woollaston, told the annual conference of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society in Wellington during the week-end of the need for patience. He said the Government had promised consultation, but views of consultation were subjective. Those who agreed strongly with the proposal were inclined to consider any consultation, particularly with their philosophical opponents, to be excessive and timewasting.Those, on the other hand, who expressed strong opposition were likely to consider any consultative process to have been inadequate if it resulted in a decision they did not like. “An analysis of my mailbag reveals a clear split between those who say we are moving too fast and those who ask why we are taking so long,” Mr Woollaston said. The Government was embarking on a radical reorganisation of departmen-

tai responsibilities. If that were done properly, it would have a lasting effect on how options for resource use and conservation were dealt with in New Zealand. The reorganisation should affect the relationship of New Zealanders to their environment for decades to come, he said, and that was why the working party’s proposals had been the subject of some controversy. “That is why we cannot rush them through,” Mr Woolaston said. “The ramifications of any changes we make and the fine details of them must be thought through carefully.” It was not a question of getting 51 per cent of the Cabinet to agree with the proposal. If the new structure were to work, everyone including those in the Government departments most affected had to go along with it. “Cosmetic changes would have been easy to achieve,” he said. “The wish for that could have been satisfied in a few months.” But if lasting change to the structure of Government were wanted, change that would result in the effective integration of conservation with development, care and deliberation were needed, in full consultation with the agencies and interest groups most affected.