As we know, SIRRL’s Incinerator proposal for Waimate has been included in the government’s Fast-Track list. This means the proposal has been removed from the Environment Court, taking with it the ability for the community to submit on the application.
On October 21, 2024, RNZ’s Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan hosted SIRRL’s Paul Taylor to discuss the company’s inclusion on the Fast-Track list.
9 minutes 25 seconds into the interview, Paul Taylor was asked the following question; “If you wanted the community to have confidence in the proposal, why did you go for the fast track.” Taylor’s response; “The reason that we have chosen to go down the fast track route, basically is, SIRRL sees it as a more streamlined process where the panel can focus exclusively on the real issues raised by the application, not be sidetracked by matters that are not relevant.”
WOW, community concerns not relevant!
For three years, SIRRL has been parroting the following line: “The Waimate community is SIRRL’s main priority; that’s why we will request our resource consent application be publicly notified to include the community in the process.” However, for those three years, SIRRL has employed public manipulation company Convergence, which shamelessly boasts itself as ‘Government lobbying specialists’.
We can now clearly see how much ‘priority’ SIRRL affords the Waimate community.
SIRRL may have succeeded in steering this proposal away from the scrutiny of the Environment Court; however, Taylor and China Tianying have not won any friends in the Waimate community. Their deceitful lobbying of the government to remove community input while simultaneously misleading the Waimate community should not be tolerated.
Pursuing Fast-Tracking of its application shows that SIRRL is willing to take shortcuts and will do anything necessary, including riding roughshod over the process and community, to get it.
That's a failed result.
Recent events highlight director Paul Taylors’ alarmingly cavalier attitude toward public wellbeing. The SIRRL director was arrested on June 12 for attempting to drive from Christchurch to his farm south of Ashburton while intoxicated; this was made worse by the fact the 57-year-old stopped off at Rakaia for a second session of drinking before being stopped by police.
So, should we believe Taylor and China Tianying have Waimate’s best interests at heart?