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A Question of Power - The Manapouri Debate
Television (Full Length) – 1980
The bid to raise the level of Fiordland’s Lake Manapōuri (to provide hydro-electricity for an aluminum smelter) resulted in controversy between 1959 and 1972. This film charts a (still-timely) debate as arguments for industrial growth and cheap energy vie with views advocating for ecological values. New Zealand’s first large-scale environmental campaign ensued, and its “damn the dam” victory was a spur for the modern conservation movement — drawing an unprecedented petition, Forest and Bird, and figures like farmer Ron McLean and botanist Alan Mark into the fray.
There are so many questions on your placards, that frankly, I couldn’t answer them all.– Prime Minister Keith Holyoake
Key Cast & Crew
Acknowledgements
Produced for New Zealand Electricity by the National Film Unit.
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