8 Jun 2011

MP rethinks position on 1080

2:10 pm on 8 June 2011

Maori Party MP Rahui Katene is looking at changing her position on 1080 after a new report suggested it should be used more widely.

A report released by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, recommends greater use of 1080 to protect forests from possums, rats and stoats.

Mrs Katene, the MP for Te Tai Tonga, has submitted a member's bill that would ban the use, importation and manufacture of 1080. The bill has not yet been drawn from the ballot.

Mrs Katene says the Maori Party now needs to discuss whether the bill should be withdrawn or left as it is.

"I was totally against 1080 to start with (but) my mind is now open about what we should be doing, because this is an independent report.

"We do need to take notice when the independent parliamentary commissioner for the environment says that this is the best that we have at this stage

Meanwhile, United Future leader Peter Dunne says report is an urban beat-up, which fails to get to the heart of what is happening in rural and provincial communities.

He says 1080 has been used for 50 years and not fixed the pest problem, so the recommendation that it should be used more is nonsense.

Mr Dunne says it is ironic that a country which prides itself on its clean green image is using poison to protect that very image.