Make it 1000%!
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of 125% on the US, up from the 84% announced earlier.
It's an open secret that it's easier to grease palms than it is to risk getting tied up for years by 'greenmail' demands from rent seekers.
In this case, Meridian agreed to pay, over 35 years, $73.5m to DoC, $2.8m to Central South Island Fish & Game, and an estimated, 'confidential' $104m to Ngai Tahu.
This old mutt reckons this is the tip of the iceberg - the consent process is buggered and is killing development.
The coming overhaul can't come soon enough.
