Poisonous clash caught onvideo
Video footage of protesters clashing with Nelson MP Nick Smith shows them rubbing a substance, believed to be rat poison, on his jacket.
But the incomplete footage of the incident near the Nelson Market on Saturday does not show the bait being rubbed in the Environment Minister’s face.
Smith has described the incident as frightening, saying it escalated from verbal abuse to ‘‘to physical shoving and rubbing rat poison over my face and clothes.’’
The video, taken by a bystander, shows that after rubbing Smith’s jacket with rat bait, the woman says ‘‘you don’t like it, you don’t like it’’.
She makes a reference to the 26-tonnes of brodifacoum-laced bait used in a pest eradication operation in the Brook Waimarama bird sanctuary at the weekend that sparked protests.
However, Brook Valley Community Group lawyer Sue Grey said she was concerned that Smith appeared to have presented a false account of the incident.
There was nothing on the video to show the poison was rubbed in his face, she said.
‘‘The video makes it very clear that people with a legitimate concern made a symbolic gesture to the minister, effectively saying you’ve put poison in your backyard, how would you feel if we put poison in yours?’’
She called for an investigation by the ‘‘responsible authorities’’ so that ‘‘people can have confidence in the information provided by the government who are supposed to represent their interests.’’
However, Smith said yesterday he stood by his previous statement.
‘‘The footage only covers part of the incident, and I suspect has been distrib- uted by one of the protesters,’’ he said. It did not include when the poison was being thrown at him.
‘‘I’m going to leave the police, who have spoken to witnesses over the full incident, to their enquiries,’’ Smith said.
A witness to the clash, Young National member Jonathan Subritzky, said the male protester also threw poison pellets into Smith’s caravan, while shouting abuse.
He said they were left with a packet of poison pellets which had been given to the police.
The Brook Valley Community Group chairman Christopher St Johanser on Monday suggested the incident involved protesters motivated by something other than the controversial poison drop at the weekend.
The helicopter drop of brodifacoum saw three arrests for trespass and a helicopter’s fuel supply sabotaged on Saturday.
The sanctuary trust says the poison drop is a key step in creating a pest-free environment in the 691-hectare sanctuary, allowing them to introduce rare bird species.
The Brook Valley group’s legal challenge to the drop was rejected by the High Court, but it has appealed. Its attempts to get a stay of proceedings were rejected last week.