Straterra sets up new headquarters
Posted in: Perspectives: Wednesday, 03 March 2010
NZResources.com, 3 March 2010
Straterra sets up new headquarters
By Richard Michael, Chief Executive, Straterra
Straterra is aiming to form a hub for the natural resources industry in New Zealand, with the opening of our new national headquarters in the heart of Wellington’s CBD.
This is a major step in the journey of formation which began three years ago when an industry group decided to act on the clear need for a more broadly based body to represent the industry.
Straterra was launched in 2008 and I was appointed chief executive officer in April last year.
Our new offices at 93 The Terrace are the ideal premises and location for our aim of creating a central resource for the industry.
It includes ample facilities, office space and meeting rooms for industry members to make use of in the capital and industry participants will also be able to sub-lease office space.
We hope that this will enhance our collective voice and encourage understanding among government and the general public of an industry which may not always been seen as particularly approachable.
I would like to congratulate the Aggregate & Quarry Association (AQA) on its foresight and excellent work carried out on national planning for how new and existing quarries will be consented in the future.
Following the example of the wine industry, AQA worked with local and central government to draw up planning guidelines which are to be handed over to a planning committee guided by the Ministry for the Environment.
This means areas of land that are suitable for extracting aggregates will be identified on district plans. The AQA’s actions mean that if any development is put forward that would block or limit access for quarrying, councils and communities can make decisions based on the full knowledge that a potentially valuable resource is being lost to the area.
The type of scheme the AQA and winegrowers have pioneered would hold great benefits for the wider minerals industry and Straterra now aims to work towards replicating the process.
Hopefully the pioneering work already carried out by AQA and the wine industry will mean that extending this process to the wider industry can be a fairly smooth process.
It is vital that our natural assets are recognised and planned for efficiently. Such a scheme would provide the wider industry with a blueprint to work toward to try to ensure the minerals issue is considered at a district planning level.
Many different development options can affect access. A process of this type would bring a more balanced approach to enable all New Zealanders to obtain the maximum benefits from our mineral wealth - rather than those benefits not being realised because of very localised issues.
We are certainly not saying that development should not happen in such areas but that all the factors should be known and raised in public conversations about planning applications.
Minerals are a national resource and it is right that we should have a local conversation and full consultation with local communities but based on local and national requirements.
The ongoing scaremongering regarding the Government’s upcoming report on minerals on Schedule 4 land has certainly not been helpful to anyone – apart from those organisations attempting to stir up public fears.
The natural resources industry certainly supports the review and the decision to carry it out also won public support.
There is no point in jumping to conclusions and raising concerns that may not be justified. Government has advised that the report will be published soon, let’s wait and see what it actually contains – and then a full national debate can ensue, based on solid facts.