Public pressure forces ‘backdown’ on Conservation Amendment bill

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka has agreed to remove controversial land disposal and exchange provisions from the Government’s Conservation Amendment Bill following mounting public opposition.

Announcing the change at the Environmental Defence Society conference, Potaka acknowledged the public’s understanding of the legislation differed from what he intended. The proposed provisions would have made an additional 2.8 million hectares of conservation land potentially eligible for disposal, beyond 2.4 million hectares of stewardship land already eligible under existing law.

“New Zealanders care deeply about conservation – and so does the Government. We know how dear our pristine landscapes are to the hearts of New Zealanders and we will never dispose of those iconic landscapes,” Mr Potaka says.

“But we were not clear enough about how the Conservation Amendment Bill improves outcomes for conservation, so we are fixing it.

“We have heard loud and clear the concerns about the potential disposal or exchange of conservation land, and we are acting on those concerns by removing those provisions from this bill.”

Potaka has repeatedly rejected claims the Government planned to sell large areas of conservation whenua. He maintains the wider Bill will modernise an outdated system, reduce delays, support appropriate economic activity and direct more revenue into biodiversity and visitor infrastructure.

However, Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson described the decision as a backdown driven by tens of thousands of New Zealanders.

“Our public conservation land is not the Government’s to sell, carve up, or quietly hand to commercial interests. The Green Party will keep fighting until this Bill is gone and the reform is started again properly, giving effect to Te Tiriti and putting indigenous-led stewardship at the centre,” says Davidson. 

Davidson called for the entire Bill to be withdrawn and redrafted with indigenous-led stewardship at its centre.

The Bill remains before Parliament’s Environment Committee, with public submissions closing on July 2