ECan councillor likens review to Nazi action

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A key moment in Nazi Germany history is the inspiration for the "hatchet job" on Environment Canterbury (ECan), says regional councillor Rik Tindall.

Tindall, ECan's Christchurch East representative, is warning that the review by former National deputy prime minister Wyatt Creech poses a threat to democracy.

In a letter to the editors of The Press and the Timaru Herald, he says there is no "dysfunctionality" at ECan.

Creech's review recommended sacking the 14 councillors, replacing them with commissioners, and the establishment of a new regional water authority.

Tindall called the Creech report unfair and "an error-ridden hatchet job".

"The report attempts to inflagrate a Canterbury version of the 1933 Reichstag fire incident, to justify curtailment of democracy. New Zealanders should be very, very concerned as to the direction their country is taking," he said.

"The unconscionably severe attack upon local democracy is simply a smokescreen to cover for ... an asset and power grab by the most threatening of New Zealand forces."

On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building in Berlin went up in flames. Nazis claimed this was the start of a Communist revolution, which led many historians to believe the Nazis started or helped start the fire.

Adolf Hitler then convinced President Paul von Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree granting Nazis sweeping powers and consolidating their authority, laying a foundation for a police state.

- © Fairfax NZ News