Private enterprise

Two articles, about Tearfund and in the This is How it Ends series (Oct 26), illustrate yet again how private enterprise can do a huge amount of damage to the extent of putting large parts of Planet Earth’s life forms at risk of extinction.

Yes, private enterprise can do some good but it is, by far, mostly the public, through government funding, that makes the improvements.

Where it all goes wrong is when advisory panels and lobbyists are allowed to have an influence on government.

We need only look at the majority influence on regional councils and fisheries panels, for two obvious examples in New Zealand to see where bad decisions originate.

Maybe we would all be safer if private enterprise lobbyists were allowed to offer comment but were not allowed to be advisers on the use of resources.

After all, resources belong to the planet, not individuals, and protection of the planet’s health, including all its life forms, is surely the primary obligation of all users of those resources. Human users must always be obliged to anticipate and pay for protection of the environment; they must be governed.

Doug Hitchon, Mahana