Groundswell NZ organised the “Howl of a Protest” in more than 40 towns and cities across New Zealand over recent environmental regulations, the “ute tax” and a Pacific seasonal worker shortage.

Co-founder Laurie Paterson said the “ute tax” was the issue people pointed the finger at, but farmers were also unhappy with the bureaucratic approach to the national policy statement for fresh water management.

From July this year, people buying new electric vehicles (EVs) could get as much as $8625 back from the government. The scheme will be funded through levies on high-emission vehicles from 1 January 2022.

About 100 tractors made their way into central Auckland, along the motorway to Queen Street and the Ellerslie race course.

Some farmers heading into Auckland missed the turnoff to the city and took the scenic route, driving their tractors over the Harbour Bridge.

Hundreds joined the convoy with a lap of the downtown area before gathering at Ellerslie Events Centre.

Traffic crawled through central Dunedin as dozens of vehicles taking part moved through the city from midday.

5km ute and tractor convoy
Utes and tractors stretched for more than 5km on Dunedin’s Southern Motorway.

The Otago Regional Council said five bus routes, which operate throughout large parts of the city, were delayed due to congestion.

Opposition National Party leader Judith Collins attended the protest along with a cohort of party MPs.

The National Party is among the most ardent critics of the government’s electric car rebate scheme and has said it will immediately reverse the policy if returned to power.

Collins addressed a large crowd of protesters in Blenheim during the protest.

She said she thought it was important to show her support for farmers.

Collins called on the government to listen to the concerns of those in the primary industries.

‘No farmers, no food’. Video: RNZ

Climate crisis ‘demands urgent action’
The Green Party acknowledged farmers have been asked to accept significant change, but said the climate crisis demands urgent action.

Greens environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage said she would like to hear some solutions from the protesters, rather than complaints.

She said the government had provided huge support to help farmers make changes.

Act Party leader David Seymour said farmers were fighting an uphill battle against regulation.

Seymour said the Labour government was doing some things well, but in other respects their approach, such as bringing in national-level rules for winter cropping, should be localised.

Seymour said many farmers also disagree with Significant Natural Areas, or SNAs, which are designed to protect remnants of native habitats.

Labour MP for Wairarapa Kieran McAnulty told RNZ that most of the farmers he had heard from told him the protest did not represent their views.

Farmers doing their bit
He said most farmers had been doing their bit for a long time, and he worried the protest would paint all farmers as climate deniers who did not care about the environment.

“I know that’s not true but I would hate for that to be the image of farmers as a result of today … there are legitimate concerns but obviously those concerns have always been heard and discussed with government,” he said.

“If we are going to get the best value for our products we need to show that we are environmentally sustainable, that we are climate friendly, and that we have ethical products.”

McAnulty said there was a very strong economic argument for the proposed changes, the farming leadership bodies and the majority of farmers were on board with them, and the protest would undermine the good consensus work done in the past four years.

“That’s what the farming leadership bodies are saying, they’re on board with this — Federated Farmers is on board with this. Unfortunately that message is being lost with today’s protest.”

One of the farmers’ demands is that the government scrap its national policy statement on freshwater which came into effect last September.

The reform introduced regulation on fencing off waterways, reporting nitrogen use and changes to winter grazing practices to protect animal welfare. Groundswell NZ says that should be down to individual catchment groups and regional councils.

Concessions already made
But Forest & Bird freshwater advocate Tom Kay said the government has already made concessions for farmers in the reforms.

“The current situation is unworkable, we have a massive freshwater crisis, we have a climate change crisis, we have a biodiversity crisis.”

He says the system up to now, with very lax rules on freshwater, doesn’t work.

For farmers leading the way and taking action like planting along waterways, the policy statement won’t be a problem at all.

“This is to bring up those laggards at the bottom end.”

A lot of farmers’ demands have been listened to by the government, he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Andreas Harsono in Jakarta

Mongabay environmental editor Phil Jacobson was deported from Indonesia last evening, flying from Jakarta to New York after he was ordered not to leave Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, for 45 days.

It is tragic that an American environmentalist who dedicated his energies to protecting Indonesia’s rain forests and indigenous people has been treated so poorly by the Indonesian authorities.

Authorities should be thanking Jacobson for his environmental work, not punishing him for it.

READ MORE: Jacobson freed after prolonged detention in Indonesia

The draconian 2011 Immigration Law needs to change. Visa violations should be an administrative matter rather than a criminal act.

Getting a journalist visa – similar with a research visa – is very difficult in Indonesia due to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-supervised “clearing house” which involves 18 representatives from 12 different ministries plus the National Police, the State Intelligence Agency, the military intelligence and the public prosecutors.

The clearing house has served as a strict gatekeeper, often denying applications outright or simply failing to approve them, placing journalists in a bureaucratic limbo.

Global attention
Mongabay said in a statement today:

Philip Jacobson … was deported from Indonesia today, January 31, more than six weeks after authorities in the city of Palangkaraya detained him over an alleged visa violation.

Jacobson, who turned 31 on January 26, was first detained on December 17, 2019, after attending a hearing between the Central Kalimantan Provincial Parliament and the local chapter of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), Indonesia’s largest indigenous rights advocacy group.

He had travelled to Palangkaraya after entering the country on a business visa for a series of meetings. A few hours before he was scheduled to fly out of the city, immigration authorities came to his guesthouse and confiscated his passport.

The next day they questioned him for four hours and ordered him to remain in Palangkaraya pending their investigation.

More than a month later, on January 21, Jacobson was formally arrested and taken into custody at the Palangkaraya Class II Detention Center. He was informed that he faced charges of violating the 2011 immigration law and a prison sentence of up to five years.

After his arrest, Jacobson’s case attracted global attention, with hundreds of articles published in outlets around the world, from The New York Times to the The Wall Street Journal to Indonesian newspapers.

Andreas Harsono is senior researcher in Jakarta for Human Rights Watch.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The former vice-chancellor of Papua New Guinea’s Unitech will seek leave from the National Court to retrieve his original PhD certificate from Italy, reports RNZ Pacific.

Albert Schram was arrested earlier this month and charged with obtaining employment through false pretence.

Police allege he produced a fake PhD certificate at Unitech in 2012.

Dr Schram’s lawyer, Greg Manda, said his client had presented a certified copy but had lost his original certificate. He could only obtain another in person from the European University Institute in Florence.

‘Outrageous developments’

BRIEFING: Stephen Howes backgrounds the issue that has stunned educational circles in Papua New Guinea.

On Friday, Loop PNG reported that Dr Albert Schram, former Vice Chancellor of PNG Unitech, had been arrested earlier in the week in Port Moresby and charged with “false pretence”.

-Partners-

According to the news website, Dr Schram was “arrested over allegations he produced falsified and fraudulent documents relating to his PhD qualification, which he obtained on 24 November 1994 from the European University Institute”.

He has been released from jail on bail, his passport confiscated, unable to leave the country.

These developments are outrageous, damaging, and scary. There is absolutely no doubt that Schram has the PhD he says he has. The university’s own website has a detailed record of it, including the date of defence and the names of examiners. Moreover, the man has published a book from his thesis, with Cambridge University Press no less.

The PNG Secretary of Higher Education has intervened and vouched publicly for the authenticity of Schram’s doctorate.

In the face of all this, the claim of the police seems to be reduced to the allegation that Schram had earlier (presumably at the time of appointment, back in 2012) produced a “fraudulently manufactured PhD certificate.” But why would someone fake a certificate for a genuine PhD? It makes no sense. The entire thing is a beat up.

The Unitech Council has disassociated itself from the recent police action, and stated that the police are acting on a complaint by the “former Council,” the one that preceded Schram’s appointment.

Cleaning up corruption
Once appointed, Schram started cleaning up the corruption and mismanagement he found. Some members of that “former Council” responded by trying to dismiss him, including by making the same allegation of false pretence with which he is currently charged.

In the end they got him barred from the country in March 2013. Schram was in exile for over a year, until, after an inquiry, he was re-admitted and returned in triumph to Unitech in April 2014 (see accounts here and here).

The 2013 Sevua inquiry, set up to investigate Schram’s appointment, found evidence of massive prior corruption, and also found that the termination of Schram’s appointment was unlawful, and that the “fraudulent misrepresentation … allegations are unsubstantiated.”

Schram’s arrest, some five years later, is outrageous because it is so transparently unfounded, and against the rule of law. Given that the matter has already been investigated and dismissed, how did Schram’s enemies enlist the police, and get them to arrest him? The arrest sends a message that you had better be careful not to make powerful enemies in PNG or, even if you act entirely legally, you might be arrested on the flimsiest and most baseless of grounds.

The episode is damaging not only because of the chilling effect it will have on domestic critics and reformers, but also because it will scare away academics and other foreigners who might otherwise be attracted to work in PNG, and take on positions of responsibility.

It follows the ban on entering PNG imposed on prominent Australian academic and businessperson Ross Garnaut in 2013.

It is especially damaging in the year of APEC, when the whole world is watching PNG.

Quick operation
Finally the episode is scary because the operation was mounted so quickly. Clearly when Schram was vice-chancellor of Unitech, he was afforded some protection from the groundless claims of fraud now being levelled against him. But Schram is no longer VC. He is in the country on a tourist visa after visiting Australia en route to Italy, his home country, on Unitech-paid tickets. His passport was confiscated the day he landed, and his arrest followed a few days later.

I urge all who support the rule of law and good governance in PNG — including the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and the Australian Federal Police — to speak out for Dr Albert Schram, and to urge the police to drop the scurrilous charges against him.

Note: Schram’s tenure at Unitech ended earlier this year after a falling out with the current Council. One of the disputed claims was that, according to the Council, Schram failed to provide his “verified credentials” to the University. According to Schram, he did.

In any case, this allegation is quite different from the current charge of “obtaining employment by false pretence.” More generally, the Council’s statement of disassociation is consistent with the broader view that Schram’s departure from Unitech in no way provides a basis for the arrest last week.

Dr Albert Schram was a visiting fellow at the Australian National University in December 2017, and in 2016 presented a lecture here.

Professor Stephen Howes is the director of the Development Policy Centre and a professor of Economics at the Crawford School, Australian National University. This article was first published on the ANU’s Devpolicy Blog.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz