So the Orcs Have Given In and Conservation Lands Are Safe?

Yesterday Minister of ‘Conservation’ Tama Potaka announced that he will be:

‘removing a controversial clause in a proposed law that would allow more conservation land to be sold.

Tama Potaka told the Environmental Defence Society conference the country’s understanding of the Conservation Amendment Bill differed to his intention.

– Advertisement –

He blamed himself for that, saying he wasn’t clear enough when he was explaining how land would be protected.’

Controversial clause in Conservation Amendment Bill that allows sale of conservation land to be removed

 “Yes, it’s on me, it’s on us,” he told Checkpoint.

“And that’s why we’ve heard the people, we’ve listened, and we’ve taken action, and that’s what political leadership requires.”

And further: 

‘Potaka said the bill did not include a plan to sell great swathes of conservation land, insisting it would only be “bits and bobs” – repeatedly pointing to examples like the MetService building in Wellington, and a gravel reserve surrounded by farmland on the West Coast.

But conservation groups and opposition parties said he was missing the point, because the bill creates a legal framework that could allow big chunks to be sold.

Potaka said the disposal and exchange provisions in the bill had generated a lot of interest.

“We’ve had no intention to sell off large parcels of land, but it seems that the words don’t necessarily match our intentions,” Potaka said.

He said maps circulated by Forest and Bird that illustrated the amount of land it believed would be opened up for sale and economic development, did not represent the government’s intentions.

“That’s caused a bit of uncertainty, that’s caused concern, and to be fair, a lot of ambiguity. So we’ve heard New Zealanders, we’ve listened to New Zealanders, and as a result, we’re taking action.”’

Wow, isn’t this wonderful, the Orcs are listening to us.

But wait, what’s this? 

What is the Chief Orc Shane Jones saying?

God as my witness’ – Jones says public land will still be up for development

‘The resources minister says his party has “a profound belief that the DoC estate is an under-utilised resource that can contribute more to the expansion of our GDP”. It’s an issue he says New Zealand First will campaign on.

“God as my witness, if we form a future government, we will be pushing for the DoC department to drive more economic outcomes from the DoC estate, including income to defray the expenses of running the DoC estate.”

He asks the public not to “catastrophise” the idea of using the conservation estate for “extraction business purposes”.

If Jones had it his way, he says this land “would be serving a host of other more commercially orientated outcomes”.

And:

‘His party’s addition to the bill is a provision that shifts the department’s mandate towards economic development “to the highest extent practicable”, a facet Potaka did not commit to changing.

Caitlin Owers of the World Wildlife Fund says this is her biggest concern, one which would “fundamentally change” the way the department functions, and says further fixes are needed.

Greenpeace Aotearoa’s Gen Toop says the bill is unsalvageable, and that the implications for conservation land due to the change in mandate would make it “as good as selling it off anyway”.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson feels the same way. “You cannot fix a bill written for developers by trimming the worst bits and hoping no one notices,” she says’.

I get the feeling that this ploy by Tama Potaka to make changes to the proposal to sell conservation land is part of a tactical move, throwing concerned New Zealanders a bone to distract us from the ultimate agenda, which remains putting economic development of conservation lands ahead of actual conservation.

Don’t be fooled, people. The Orcs are still hell bent on monetarising the conservation estate, which, as we know, means opening it up to overseas investment. 

And there’s more.

Potaka announcement not enough, scrap Conservation Bill says Greenpeace

‘Greenpeace Aotearoa says the Conservation Amendment Bill is rotten and must be scrapped entirely, as public outcry over the proposal forces the Conservation Minister to take his proposal to make it easier to sell off or exchange land back to Cabinet.’

Further, Greenpeace spokesperson Gen Toop adds:

“Even if National manages to convince its coalition partners to pull the land sales parts out – this Bill would still make it easier for open cast mines, private resorts, gondolas, and shopping malls to degrade the wild places we all treasure.

“That is as good as selling it off anyway”, says Toop.

Toop says that aside from the land sale provisions in the Bill – the Bill proposes to change the entire purpose of the Conservation Act and the core mandate of DOC to enable commercial exploitation “to the greatest extent practicable.” 

The announcements come after weeks of public opposition that have seen tens of thousands of submissions against the Bill and mass public outcry.

“Nobody wants to show up to our favorite conservation areas to go camping, tramping, hunting, and find that the quiet wilderness once there is gone, replaced by an open mining pit, a private hotel and a shopping mall,” says Toop.

“The snow-capped mountains, ancient forests and wild rivers of Aotearoa are part of who we are as a nation. The Coalition Government has completely misjudged how much New Zealanders, from all walks of life, love public conservation land.”’

Are you convinced, yet, that these Orcs are not to be trusted? If not, what will it take?

Today the excellent Public Interest NZ YouTube channel ( why has it only got 147 subscribers? Come on people, support this!) published an interview by Ollie Neas with Forest & Bird national conservation advocate Bianca Ranson.

Government backs down on conservation land. Is the fight really over?

During this interview Ranson explains the issues wth this legislation.

‘It has been a very big week. We released the maps showing what was at stake with our conservation land and that has really sparked off just such an incredible response from people across the nation and it’s really showed that we have common ground where it really matters which is our love for our whenua, for our biodiversity, our taonga species, and you’ve seen people from environmental organizations, mana whenua, the hunting and fishing organizations as well as you know recreational users like the Alpine Conservation Club and so on.’

And:

‘But we also need to make sure that we remain vigilant and that we get the changes removed that risk turning DOC into an economic development agency instead of putting the conservation and well-being of our habitats of our wild places at the centre of what the department of conservation is there to do’.

The current situation:

…(land that would be able to be used for)

‘…economic development is quite extensive and currently for anything like that to happen it has to be approved by both the Minister of Conservation but also by the New Zealand Conservation Authority. And so the authority is made up of people that represent mana whenua, there’s somebody that Forest & Bird nominates, the general public can nominate somebody, there’s also scientists that are nominated, a member from the Ministry of Tourism and  the Federated Mountain Clubs.’

What will happen under the new legislation?

‘… And so the conservation amendment bill would remove that obligation to have approval from the authority, to have approval to just be in the hands of the minister.’

Do you get that? In the future any decision about commercialising conservation lands will be sole responsibility of the Minister of Conservation.

We shouldn’t be surprised at this removal of peoples’ voice, when we look at Erica Stanford’s take over of the New Zealand Teachers Council, and Simeon Brown’s recent reworking of the Medical Council to remove people who may speak out against government policy.

‘…I can’t stress enough that the Department of Conservation should have conservation front and foremost to the work and responsibilities that they have.

Another thing that I just want to also mention is that the bill doesn’t honour Te Tiriti.’

Given this government’s ongoing racism, are you surprised at that?

The interview covers much more over 20 minutes. Set aside the time to watch it, so you have a better understanding of the efforts being put in by the orcs to disenfranchise New Zealanders for the benefit of their financial backers.

As you can see, the sale of the conservation lands is only a part of the threat to our conservation heritage.

This bill has already been referred to select committee which means it’s well on the way to being passed into law. While a future government can undo this, it is preferable for it not to be passed in the first place.

Greenpeace has a petition which can be signed here,

They have also provided a template for making a submission to the select committee.

Submit Now To Oppose The Sale of Conservation Land

It’s now or never.