Media Statement
For immediate release
Friday, 28 January 2005
ORNZ slams Te Kaha's 'wet bus ticket' sentence
Outdoor Recreation NZ's Paul Check today slammed the "wet bus ticket" community service sentence handed down to
paua-poaching Maori activist Te Kaha, saying that the country's fisheries would continue to be plundered until tougher
sentences were imposed.
"The man should be in jail," Mr Check, chairman of ORNZ, which is affiliated to United Future, said.
"This is serious criminal behaviour and it's about time the courts really recognised that," Mr Check said, adding that
he was concerned that ethnic and politically correct influences were at play.
"The fact of the matter is that the law has been broken in a deliberate and calculating manner.
"The punishment should fit the crime and send a clear message to all poachers and black marketeers that the wholesale
pillaging of our fisheries resources will not be tolerated," he said.
Ends.