Why Wednesday's Queenstown protest is so important

Analysis. Peter Newport.

We’ve all seen protests on TV since we were children – the placards, the songs, the slogans. It’s in some ways a cliché – in other ways it’s the closest physical sign of a democracy that is working.

Protest is a public right – a right that we often take for granted.

It’s unlikely that at the Shotover Treatment Plant on Wednesday that we’ll see heads getting smashed, rubber bullets won’t fly, police riot shields won’t be deployed – but there is a much more frightening prospect.

That it is ignored.

I’m told by people close to the QLDC that the management team there, and the councillors who elect not to represent their constituents, believe Crux is not just a nuisance but we can be “managed” by simply being ignored. It’s likely they will take the same view about Wednesday’s protest.

Private decisions have been already made behind closed doors. Queenstown will dump millions of cubic metres of “treated” sewage into local rivers so that property developers can keep building expensive sub-divisions (not affordable houses) and this increasingly sad town of ours will continue to grow – and grow – and grow.

Until it breaks.

That disposal field effluent is not very well treated (believe me, I’ve been there around 70 times since November 2024) - and the airport birdstrike issue being linked to the disposal field is extremely convenient and partial fantasy.

As a journalist I’m sick of these attitudes when we all work so hard to live in paradise.

For years I’ve seen dishonesty at the QLDC. Rates have gone up, vanity and overpriced projects multiply – and now the environment gets dumped on so that private, hidden profits can continue to grow.

The assumption is that the big property and tourist bosses run this town – via a tame, puppet council. It does not really matter how it all works – it’s morally corrupt.

Everyone at the top gets looked after somehow – one way or the other.

The majority of us get ignored.

We pay their council salaries, but we have no say. Our elected councillors have no say. “Consultation” is an excuse to pay some consultants to ignore us via clever and expensive surveys that never make a difference.

Is it naïve to think all of this can change?

No. It’s a matter of public sentiment changing in an election year.

My reading of this community is that we’ve all had enough of this abuse of power. The Government turns a blind eye due to tourism GST flowing in and an unspoken “What happens in Queenstown stays in Queenstown” rule that is as undemocratic as it is dangerous.

If hundreds or even thousands turn up at the Quail Rise junction at 8.00 am on Wednesday this week then that can be the start of change.

It may even help a new mayoral candidate find the courage to stand for the community in October, and not to enthusiastically welcome the puppet strings (with benefits) of their predecessor.

After all a smart, caring town will ultimately be richer in money (yes, tourists do notice these things) and in all of the softer values than a crooked town in a spiralling kamikaze dive to massive debt and environmental ruin.

Don’t be ignored - turn up on Wednesday, make some noise and make it count.

Queenstown Community Action Facebook page and event details.