Peter Dunne to host anti-1080 public meetings

There are few more divisive issues in New Zealand today than the use of 1080 poison, UnitedFuture leader and leading 1080 opponent Peter Dunne said in announcing public meetings in Taupo and Turangi for later this month.

Mr Dunne said the meetings were even more crucial now in the light of the report released by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment last week not just condoning the use of 1080, but calling for more of it to be used.

“This is a poison that has been put into our environment for the past 50 years and is being spun as a success story, but if it was the success that its advocates make out, then in 50 years it would have done the job.

“It has not,” he said.

“We would never condone its use in Cornwall Park in Auckland or Hagley Park in Christchurch because of the recognised risks to humans and other animals, but apparently it is ok around smaller communities, despite their concerns and protests.

“People – and especially smaller communities – are not being listened to.

“It is time we stopped pumping this toxin around our rural communities and countryside, and it is time that we seriously looked for alternatives.”

Mr Dunne said it is UnitedFuture’s policy that 1080 be banned and more environmentally acceptable methods such as self-setting traps and a bounty system be used in its place, along with ongoing research for other alternatives.

“Instead of costing taxpayers money, the valuable furs and skins could become a valuable export earner and provide employment in many smaller communities”, Mr Dunne said.

“New Zealand is the last country in the world that allows 1080 aerial drops and over 90 percent of all 1080 now used worldwide is used in New Zealand.

“We need to wake up to what we are doing with this poison,” he said.

Well known Turangi resident and guide Alan Simmons shares Mr Dunne’s concerns about 1080 use.

“It is often said that 1080 must be used because it can reach areas that trappers or hunters can’t easily access. If this is the case, why was there a 1080 drop around the Central Plateau, including around Lake Otomangakau?”

Mr Dunne said he saw the Central North Island as at the forefront of the fight against 1080.

“I want to talk to the Central North Island community about this issue, but more importantly, I want to hear the views of the community,” he said.

Both meetings will be on Friday, 24 June, the first in Turangi at the Senior Citizens Hall at 5pm, and then in the Great Lakes Event Centre theatre, Taupo, at 7.30pm.