Many millions of dollars were taken from environmental activities in the recent Budget to “align with the government’s priorities”.
There were cuts to waste minimisation, climate change activities, freshwater health initiatives, environmental data-gathering, indigenous biodiversity enhancement and “partnerships and engagement”. In the latter category, a key axing was the Environmental Legal Assistance (ELA) Fund.
For 23 years, this legal aid fund has been distributed by the Ministry for the Environment to not-for-profit groups, incorporated societies, and hapū and iwi to assist with the hefty price tag that comes with taking litigation to courts or boards of inquiry. Applicants to the fund had to show their case would be in the “environmental public interest”.
Originally, the fund had an annual budget of $1 million but in 2016 was reduced to $600,000. The maximum a group could receive for a case was $50,000, a sum quickly gobbled up by legal processes, and many applicants received less.
Clear the Air, a community group in Mt Maunganui, got $40,000 from the fund to oppose an air discharge consent application by Allied Asphalt in the Environment Court in May. “The cost for a lawyer and planner for only a short time came to a bit more than $40,000,” says spokesperson Emma Jones, “even though our lawyer acted pro-bono for some parts to
