Prime Minister Muldoon, with the support of Social Credit’s Bruce Beetham, bulldozed through the completion of the Clyde dam. The 1982 Clyde Dam Bill, which fast-tracked development of the hydro generating station, overturned the High Court’s refusal to grant consents, and eliminated the rights of property owners who had used the planning procedures to achieve their legitimate purposes. The Clyde dam, centrepiece of ‘Think Big’, was built at cost overrun of $1 billion and with continuing controversy about its safety, viability and necessity. quarter century later the judiciary and politicians are at odds over foreshore and seabed legislation and the operation of the new Supreme Court. Comments by Chief Justice Sian Elias, both in New Zealand and overseas, have been labelled “judicial activism” by deputy PM Michael Cullen, who has warned about the “creeping erosion of the sovereignty of Parliament to make laws”.
Bob Brockie, National Business Review, 19 July 1982.
From the NZ Cartoon Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library, P O Box 12349, Wellington, Tel/fax 04-474 3154
The national collection of cartoons and caricatures
