Did dear Hekia lie?

Image via Wikipedia

A dirty deal requires dirty lies - did dear Hekia lie?


They say you know your opponent’s stand is dishonourable when they resort to spreading lies and promoting falsehoods about your position.

The government’s Acting Energy and Resources Minister in attacks on opponents to deep sea oil drilling has been caught out lying and spreading slurs that misrepresented their position.

Gisborne District councillor Manu Caddie accused (Hekia Parata) of lying, or “deliberately misleading the public”, in an article in The Gisborne Herald on Saturday in which she said the exploration permit would involve only 2D and 3D data gathering, not drilling.

The company would decide whether to start drilling once they had all the information and, if they did decide to drill, they would have to apply for a mining permit, she said.

But Manu Caddie says this was a blatant lie.

The permit signed last year by her predecessor allowed the company to drill one exploratory well within 60 months of the commencement of the permit, he said in a written statement.

“There is no need for Petrobras to come back and ask the Government for another permit before they start drilling . . . the permit expressly gives permission to drill a well.”…

…Ms Parata also said there had been “scaremongering” going on that seismic monitoring could cause earthquakes.

That claim has been made numerous times by anti-drilling group Te Ahi Kaa in various media.

But Mr Caddie said this morning that the group had been misquoted.

“First they ignore you. Then they mock you. Then they attack you. And then you win.” – Ghandi

Acknowledgements: The Standard