It’s A Matter Of Values - Except When The Govt. Has None.

A Government of Vandals and Vultures - The Great Kiwi Asset Strip Masquerading as Reform

It was only a matter of time before the wolves stopped pretending to be sheep.

In a sweeping, coordinated legislative blitz, the current government has declared open season on New Zealand. Not metaphorically, but literally. Forests? For sale. Rivers? Polluted on demand. Democracy? Traded for corporate ‘efficiency’. It’s not a reform agenda. It’s a fire sale dressed in a pinstripe suit, and the fire is spreading.

From the Fast-Track Approvals Act to the Regulatory Standards Bill, where “freedom” means freedom to mine, pollute and profit without pesky consequences - New Zealanders are watching their country carved up like it’s a buffet for billionaires. The Resource Management Act has been gutted, Overseas Investment rules kneecapped, local councils neutered and even the National Environmental Standards have been pummelled into irrelevance.

All while the government repackages this eco-cide as economic growth. Like repainting a bulldozer with native birds and calling it conservation. This isn’t policy. It’s pillaging.

But wait - there’s more and it ain’t steak knives. The government is doing it all in a cloud of parliamentary urgency, silenced civil servants and rubber-stamped select committees. Opposition MPs have been reduced to performative outrage while the real work of resistance is left to exhausted NGOs and unpaid volunteers. The public, understandably bewildered, are watching their democratic rights vaporise like morning mist over a drained wetland.

And then there's the tourism campaign. “100% Pure New Zealand,” says the Prime Minister, as mining trucks rumble through sacred landscapes and foreign corporates bottle our spring water for resale in Dubai.

Meanwhile, if you're a nurse, teacher, or aged care worker - sorry, we’ve restructured your pay equity under cover of night. You’re welcome. Also, please do your part for the economy by accepting less, working more and never getting sick, old or pregnant.

We’re no longer witnessing a government making hard decisions. We’re witnessing a takeover, of Parliament, land, air, water and truth.

Democracy has been shoved into the boot. The driver? A coalition of libertarian ideologues, opportunistic extractors and lobbyists who thought climate collapse was just an untapped investment category.

🗞️ Official Government Statement

From the Office of Environmental Streamlining and National Prosperity Initiatives

RE: Enhanced Resource Optimisation and Participatory Prosperity Acceleration

In alignment with our Future-Focused National Alignment Strategy (FuFNAS), the Government is proud to unveil a series of pro-efficiency harmonisations, including the Fast Track Approvals Act and Regulatory Clarity Bill, that will enable agile environmental synergy outcomes for enterprise stakeholders.

These reforms will activate latent geospatial resource potential, removing obstructive bureaucratic silos that have historically slowed New Zealand’s capacity to fully utilise its underperforming biodiversity.

By balancing competitive extractive pathways with dynamic democratic simplification, we are committed to future-proofing prosperity while minimising the burden of unquantified cultural or ecological delay factors. We reaffirm our commitment to streamlined public input mechanisms (such as abbreviated select committee timeframes and algorithmically moderated submission portals).

Together, we are building a New Zealand that Works. For someone.

✉️ Letter to the Editor: From Aotearoa Environmental Defence Coalition

To the Editor,

Last week we lost a forest. Not to fire, not to flood - but to paperwork.

We represent hundreds of environmental volunteers, community groups, freshwater kaitiaki, forest protectors and scientists, all of whom now stand on the wrong side of a bulldozer approved under a law passed in three hours of urgency with no public scrutiny.

Under the so-called Fast Track Act and regulatory changes, decisions we fought for over decades can be overturned by ministerial signature. No hearing, no appeal, no accountability. Our staff are receiving threats. Our funding has been gutted. Our public servants allies are gagged. The landscape itself is bleeding.

We urge all New Zealanders to understand - this is not just about birds and trees. This is about sovereignty. This is about truth. This is about who gets to decide what kind of future we have and who profits from its destruction.

We are calling on every citizen, iwi, council, union and faith group to join us. This is a fight for the soul of our country. Kāore te whenua i hokona. It was never for sale.

— Dr. Hana Waimarie, Executive Director, Aotearoa Environmental Defence Coalition

✉️ Letter to the Editor: From a Disillusioned Citizen

To the Editor,

I’m writing from my car.

Not because I’m on holiday. I live here now, with my daughter, because our rent went up and my job was ‘streamlined’ - a word that now seems to mean 'unemployed with less dignity.'

I’ve watched our local river go brown. I’ve watched three cafés close in our town centre and now I’m watching Parliament hand over everything we have to people who’ll never set foot here, except perhaps to helicopter over their new quarry.

Last week I tried to submit feedback on a Bill. The website crashed. I called my MP. The voicemail was full. I turned on the news. Nothing. Just tourism ads and a minister at Fieldays talking about how good the soil is - before it's all strip-mined, I guess.

I don’t know what to do anymore, except beg. Please. If you still have a voice, use it. Because ours are being bulldozed. Alongside the rest of the country.

— Natalie Te Rangi
Ngāti Maniapoto, Former Primary School Teacher
Now: car dweller, Aotearoa

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