The Star: January 17, 2019

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Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday January 17 2019
Our People
The Star
Peter Richardson
Lawyer devoted to saving the planet
Peter Richardson splits
his time between
taking bottling
companies to the High
Court with Aotearoa
Water Action and
work at his legal firm,
Linwood Law. He talks
to Julia Evans about
his life of activism
How long have you been
involved in activism?
It started back when I was
at uni, which was about 35
years ago. I was involved in the
Springbok tour protests at that
time, I also got involved in some
other stuff. But it sort of slowed
when I settled down and had
family and all that sort of thing.
I concentrated on my career and
my family more. I had been a
Green Party member for quite
a while anyway and I got a little
bit involved more when the
genetic engineering issue came
up because I was strongly anti-
GE. So I got back into the Green
Party with that. It was the water
issue that really sort of got me
involved again in Green Party
politics and activism because I
felt so strongly about what was
going on with the water.
How did that lead to you
helping start Aotearoa Water
Action?
It came about because I was
concerned about the water
issue, I offered to help with the
Bung the Bore campaign, which
was going on in Ashburton. So
I did a little bit of work with
Jen Branje and the people in
Ashburton. It was good to help
them with that. Because I’d been
involved in that, when Cloud
Ocean and the other company,
Rapaki Natural Resources made
their applications for consents
in Christchurch, it sort of came
across my desk as well. People
who were involved in Bung the
Bore People got in touch with
me, so we got a group together
to investigate those consents and
the process by which they were
issued. We determined and felt
they had been issued unlawfully
so we decided to challenge them.
I always had a little bit of concern
with Bung the Bore campaign
that even though they had a
really strong case and they were
well organised, the problem was
to bring legal proceedings, it
would have cost them a whole lot
more money than they actually
had. So that’s why they couldn’t
bring legal proceedings at the
end of the day. However, because
the council held that consent
they were able to apply political
pressure in the local body
elections. They kicked out most
of the council and they kicked
out the mayor. But we’re dealing
with private companies, so we
have to bring legal proceedings.
I was reasonably confident given
the size of Christchurch and
ACTIVIST: Christchurch lawyer Peter Richardson relaxing in his garden.
given my gut feeling that people
actually cared about the issue, we
would raise the money to be able
to bring proceedings. We raised
enough so we could at least file
the proceedings.
Where are the proceedings at?
The proceedings are to
challenge the process by which
the consents were granted to the
bottling companies. We had a
preliminary hearing just before
Christmas, which was to consider
an argument by the bottling
companies and Environment
Canterbury that they didn’t in
fact require consents to begin
with and could rely on the old
industrial use consents. We won
that hearing and so now we go on
to fight the main hearing, which
will be held probably around the
middle of this year.
Have you been involved in any
protests that got out of hand?
I was quite involved in the
1981 Springbok tour and I was
in Auckland. The group I was
in was on the front line of some
of those demonstrations around
Eden Park. It was pretty hairy
although I wasn’t involved in
the riots because we were in a
different part of the area. I’ve
been involved in a few protests
that have ended up with arrests.
Up at Waitangi as well. I had
a lot of years off being actively
involved in those sort of causes.
But as I’ve got older and become
more concerned about the way
the world’s going now, I’ve got
back into it.
What motivates you?
I’m motivated by a little
bit of outrage. It isn’t really a
healthy one, but it’s an emotion
I feel sometimes when I see
some of the injustices that are
happening around the world. In
particular with exploitation of
resources and communities and
ecosystems being put at risk just
through greed. That really sparks
a response from me. I think most
people would probably feel that
they would like to do something
about it. Because I’m reasonably
well set-up financially and I’m
not struggling. My kids have
all left home and I don’t have
the economic struggles like a
lot of people do, just to pay the
mortgage and put food on the
table. I can do something positive
and help change it.
Why do you think water is
such a big issue, particularly for
people in Christchurch?
It’s a big issue for people in
general because without it,
we can’t survive. It’s one of
the basic necessities of life, it’s
fundamental to survival on the
planet. It’s also fundamental
to people’s well-being to have
clean water and access to clean
drinking water and water for
their needs. It’s not just having
water, it’s having water that is
pure because water carries a
lot of life force, consciousness,
it carries all sorts of things. It’s
not just water. I have a slightly
mystical view on that, but that’s
fine. I think it’s just absolutely
vitally important that we protect
the water, it just breaks my heart
to see rivers not running to the
sea and water being shipped out
of the country overseas in plastic
bottles.
How did you feel when you
heard of city councillor Aaron
Keown’s plan to bottle and sell
the city’s water?
I don’t want to be critical
of people, but it’s probably
symptomatic of the problem.
People tend to treat everything
as a commodity to be exploited,
which is understandable under
the system. We need to be
thinking in a more holistic way
as to how we actually organise
ourselves as a society. We need to
be looking generations ahead at
quality of life rather than shortterm
financial gain, get-richquick
schemes. Unfortunately it’s
the way the economy has gone in
the last few years. Unfortunately
we exploit resources for shortterm
gain and forget about
the economic value, as well
as environmental and social
consequences.
As a child, did you imagine
yourself becoming a lawyer?
No, absolutely not. Basically my
dad was a lawyer in Hamilton.
He had his own legal firm and
then he became a district court
judge, eventually. I knew I’d be
okay at it. Basically it was for
a want of something better to
do. It was probably just an easy
option for me, I would probably
have been better off doing
something else. It has given me
the opportunity to acquire some
skills that have been helpful to
me. But because the water is quite
a technical area of the law, our
barrister drives the proceedings.
We set the ball in motion and
it wasn’t just me by any means,
we have fantastic people in our
group who have been involved
right from the beginning.
Any particularly memorable
cases?
I haven’t done a lot of court
work, I did a little bit when I
was working in Dunedin. We’ve
had good wins, but none of
them really come to mind. I do
property and commercial law
now, I did do criminal law for
a little bit but ended up on a
different path.
Did you grow up in
Christchurch?
No, I grew up in Hamilton
and then I went to university
in Auckland. Then I lived in
Dunedin for seven years and now
Christchurch for 23. Always in
the northern suburbs, Papanui,
Redwood and now Mairehau
with my wife. I’ve had three boys
who grew up in Christchurch.
One’s finishing a PhD in
America, one’s a project manager
in Christchurch, but he’s also
doing some academic work and
the youngest is an aspiring actor
in Auckland. They’ve all done
their own things and good on
them.
What do you on a day off?
I used to be really keen on sport
– multi-sport, kayaking, running.
I was a really keen runner, mostly
off-road running. Biking too, I
still do mountain biking a bit,
mostly to and from work now. I
really like to go tramping. Usually,
if I’ve got a chance, I like to get
up tramping on the hills. I like to
go to the beach to go swimming
and I like my gardening. I’ve got
quite a reasonable-sized vegetable
garden, so I really like organic
gardening.
Did you get away over
Christmas?
Just up to Hamilton to see my
mother, she’s 79. My youngest
boy, who lives in Auckland, came
and had Christmas with us too.