My friend Denis over at The Nature of Robertson has just sent me the following. I find it mind-boggling in the Australian context. Would Australians ever let this happen here? I certainly think it needs consideration.
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“Your Honour, I appear for the Whanganui River” A river gets legal standing …
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/I am not a Lawyer - but this might be a ground-breaking precedent.
Others can judge that, but it is worth considering.
Imagine the Murray Darling River taking Tony Burke to Court?
Denis Wilson
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A tribunal in New Zealand has recognised – perhaps for the first time in legal history – that a river has personality sufficient to allow it to be heard in a court of law.
As Kate Shuttleworth reported in the New Zealand Herald recently:
The Whanganui River will become an legal entity and have a legal voice under a preliminary agreement signed between Whanganui River iwi and the Crown tonight. This is the first time a river has been given a legal identity. A spokesman for the Minister of Treaty Negotiations said Whanganui River will be recognised as a person when it comes to the law – “in the same way a company is, which will give it rights and interests” … Under the agreement the river is given legal status under the name Te Awa Tupua – two guardians, one from the Crown and one from a Whanganui River iwi, will be given the role of protecting the river.
Read more on Bob Gosford's Blog
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/Denis Wilson
If you're not pissed off with the World, you're just not paying attention.
(Kasey Chambers)
"The Nature of Robertson"
www.peonyden.blogspot.com.au
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