Hi Everyone. From Graham Pullman
You need to act NOW. This now needs individual
action. We can but do little as an organisation except activate our members. (my
view)
Sorry this is long winded skip to the section in
Red if you don’t want to read the rest. (but you should)
You may have heard that a parliamentary Bill on
Walking Access got a first hearing mid April in Parliament. This is supposedly
the outcome of the long process involving the John Acland chaired panel on
walking access.
Spend some time studying this information and
particularly the comments from Hugh Barr on the NZFWDA site.
At the end of this is a letter. Change it in
anyway you like and follow the instructions on the web site indicated.
About 3-4 years ago John Acland (Mt Peel Station)
was appointed by the Government to formulate recommendations for the Walking
Access Bill. (Acland Report) He spent a considerable amount of time listening to
people and Groups, including those in the 4WD organisations. At the end we
believed not too much would change.
The Bill before Parliament bears little
resemblance to the original Acland Report.
However... the Bill does not look as if it will do
anyone any favours in respect of recreation. Some strong commentary has been
written by Hugh Barr of the recreational representative group, CORANZ.
After all the effort that four wheelers put in to protect our legal road asset,
it looks like others have different plans. Time to remind your MP's about what
their constituents want!
Hugh Barr's comments can be found on
www.nzfwda.org in the What's Hot listing.
The following is a summary of its effect on users
of the Walkways. US!!!!!!
These are the bits that seem to affect us
Functions of Commission
a.. In meeting its objective under section 9, the Commission has the following
functions:
a.. (a) providing national leadership on walking access by-
a.. (i) preparing and administering a national strategy; and
a.. (ii) co-ordinating walking access among relevant stakeholders and central
and local government organisations, including Sport and Recreation New Zealand:
a.. (b) providing local and regional leadership on, and co-ordination of,
walking access:
a.. (c) compiling, holding, and publishing information about land over which
members of the public have walking access:
a.. (d) providing advice on walking access to the Minister or any other person:
a.. (e) facilitating resolution of disputes about walking access, including
initiating negotiations about disputed issues, mediating disputes, and referring
disputes to an appropriate authority:
a.. (f) creating and administering walkways under this Act, with planning and
supervision focused at a local level:
a.. (g) monitoring the compliance with, and enforcement of, this Act:
a.. (h) negotiating with landholders to acquire walking access (other than
walkways) over land:
a.. (i) negotiating rights in addition to any walking access that is acquired,
such as the right to carry firearms or of access with dogs, bicycles, or motor
vehicles:
a.. (j) administering a fund to finance the activities of the Commission, or any
other person, in acquiring, developing, improving, maintaining, and
administering walking access over any land:
a.. (k) receiving and managing private funding, contributions, or sponsorship
for the promotion of walking access:
a.. (l) researching, educating the public about, and participating in topics and
programmes related to walking access:
a.. (m) developing, promoting, and maintaining the code of responsible conduct.
Public consultation and local authority consent required if public land is
unformed legal road
a.. (1) This section applies if the Commission proposes to declare any public
land to be a walkway and the land is or includes an unformed legal road.
(2) The Commission must consult the public on the proposed declaration by-
a.. (a) giving notice of the proposed declaration to the public using any means
it thinks appropriate, and inviting members of the public to comment on it; and
a.. (b) making the proposed declaration readily available to members of the
public; and
a.. (c) allowing a reasonable period of time for members of the public to
comment on the proposed declaration; and
a.. (d) considering each comment received under this subsection.
(3) The Commission must also obtain the written consent of the local authority
in whose district the land is located, after first-
a.. (a) providing the local authority with any comments received under
subsection (2); and
a.. (b) allowing the local authority a reasonable period of time to consider the
comments.
(4) In deciding whether to consent to a proposed declaration, a local authority
must consider each comment provided to it under subsection (3)(a).
(5) If the local authority consents to the declaration of the walkway, it may
impose any conditions in relation to the walkway when granting consent.
(6) If the local authority consents to the declaration of the walkway, the
landholders with legal frontage on, or direct access to, the unformed legal road
retain the right to use the unformed legal road for the same purposes and to the
same extent as if the walkway had not been declared.
Strict liability offences
(1) Every person commits an offence who, without lawful authority,-
a.. (a) takes any plant (other than a noxious weed) from a walkway or from land
adjacent to a walkway; or
a.. (b) has in his or her possession a firearm while on a walkway; or
a.. (c) discharges a firearm on a walkway or on land adjacent to a walkway; or
a.. (d) brings a horse or dog onto, or has control of a horse or dog on, a
walkway; or
a.. (e) sets a net, trap, or snare, or places poison or explosives, on a walkway
or on land adjacent to a walkway (except a net or trap set for the purposes of
fishing in a water body or lake adjacent to a walkway); or
a.. (f) lights a fire on a walkway (other than in a fireplace provided by the
controlling authority responsible for the walkway); or
a.. (g) having lit a fire on a walkway in a fireplace provided by the
controlling authority, fails to extinguish the fire before leaving the walkway;
or
a.. (h) uses a vehicle on a walkway; or
a.. (i) erects a structure on or over a walkway.
(2) The onus is on the defendant to prove that at the time of the alleged
offence an activity is authorised.
(3) In prosecuting an offence against subsection (1), the prosecution does not
need to prove that the defendant-
a.. (a) intentionally or recklessly committed the offence; or
a.. (b) knew that the offence occurred in or in relation to a walkway.
(4) In this section,-
dog does not include a companion dog or guide dog, within the meaning of section
2(1) of the Conservation Act 1987
noxious weed means any plant specified as a pest in a pest management strategy
made under Part 5 of the Biosecurity Act 1993
plant-
a.. (a) means any member of the plant kingdom and any part of or seed or spore
from any plant; and
a.. (b) includes any algae, bacteria, or fungi
take, in relation to all or part of a plant on land on which a walkway is
located or land adjacent to that land, includes cut, damage, destroy, disturb,
remove, transplant, uplift, and uproot,-
a.. (a) by any means; and
a.. (b) whether or not the plant or part of it is removed from, or subsequently
returned alive or dead to, the land.
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This is the suggested letter.
Use your own words if you wish.
To send your letter to
parliamentarians you need to Copy it and Paste into the following.
http://www.betterdemocracy.co.nz/email_mps.php
Its easy to do, simply follow the
instructions
The Letter
I would draw your attention to
provisions of the Walking Access Bill
currently before Parliament.
Specifically, any provision that allows the establishment of Walkways across
Public Lands. And, most particular any ability to replace a Legal Road by a
Walkway.
Legal Roads are Public Land , but they go much further. Established as a
result of Queen Victoria 's note to Governor Hobson of December 1840 in which
she expressed the desire that all New Zealanders should have free and
unencumbered access to the great outdoors for recreational purposes. One
off-shoot of this is commonly referred to as the Queen's Chain - a
practicality that persists in various forms (no matter what various
Government Departments would have you believe) to this very day.
The other outcome of Queen Victoria 's note, was the establishment of a
roading network. Some of this is currently formed, but those remaining
76,000 Km of unformed portions are no more nor no less a legal road than
those in everyday use.
Legal Roads (including unformed or "paper" roads") provide an absolute and
guaranteed right of access to the public. It is an enforceable right, and
the Courts have consistently upheld that right both here and throughout the
rest of the Commonwealth, as being absolute and immutable.
To suggest that this Bill might allow the replacement of a legal road
(affording guaranteed and unencumbered passage) with a walkway (affording no
similar guarantees - and in fact easily extinguishable) is repugnant to the
Kiwi way of life.
A Walkway does not allow automatically for accompanying dogs, horses,
firearms nor vehicles - the Roading Network (including paper Roads) in
general does.
Why replace an absolute legal guarantee with a second-class "maybe"
Please exercise your vote to remove any provisions regarding establishment of
walkways across public lands - the public already hold these rights at law
now - why dilute them
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