16 September 2009
Prosecute Greenpeace activists as pirates
The Greenpeace activists, who have illegally boarded the cargo vessel East Ambition, should be prosecuted as pirates, or more precisely, sea robbers, given the ship was illegally boarded within New
Zealand territorial waters.
“This is a law and order issue of the highest level,” says Don Nicolson, Federated Farmers President.
“I fully respect the freedom of Greenpeace to protest legally but they have crossed the line by interfering with legal
commerce and free navigation on the high seas.
“That’s why the Police need to take this act of piracy, or sea-robbery, very seriously and prosecute those activists to
the full extent of the law. Those activists need to be sent a message that is unequivocal and clear. They need to be
made an example of.
“It’s also economic treason designed to damage New Zealand’s reputation abroad. Greenpeace is actually anti-farming and
these new tactics show how low they are prepared to go.
“PKE is a waste by-product of a waste by-product, derived from producing palm oil kiwis eat or consume daily. Greenpeace
are using past import volumes and the retail value of PKE sold in New Zealand as its ‘supporting evidence’.
“I understand that if PKE isn’t sold it’s either burnt as waste or just left to rot on the ground.
“Greenpeace knows it cannot win the argument on logic so has resorted to illegal means to express its lies. It’s a
despicable new tactic that has Greenpeace’s loathing of farming written all over that ship.
“Federated Farmers hope is that the Police won’t slap Greenpeace with a wet bus-ticket but instead send that
organisation and those activists a clear message that sea-robbery, or piracy, is a very serious crime,” Mr Nicolson
concluded.
ENDS