8. Hon CHRIS CARTER (Labour—Te Atatū) Link to this
to the Minister of Conservation
Why did she sign off on a Cabinet paper which proposed removing 467,517 hectares of land from schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act?
Hon KATE WILKINSON (Minister of Conservation) Link to this
After a stocktake of schedule 4, officials recommended this figure. At the time, the Minister of Energy and Resources and I were satisfied with the recommendation as an initial basis for discussion at Cabinet. As the member knows, Cabinet subsequently reduced the proposal to a net total of 5,000 hectares from schedule 4, and finally decided to remove nothing from schedule 4 and to add 12,400 hectares.
How does she reconcile her support for the removal of over 5,000 hectares of land from schedule 4 protection with her statutory obligation under the Conservation Act to act as an advocate for the protection of New Zealand’s unique natural heritage?
Nicky WagnerHon KATE WILKINSON Link to this
All land added to certain classes of protected areas will now be automatically added to schedule 4 without the need for a separate process. We will also require that significant applications to mine on public land are to be publicly notified. This was an issue that emerged from the submissions process, which shows that we were listening. This process has led to some significant gains.
How does she reconcile quite easily her support for the removal of over 5,000 hectares of land from schedule 4 protection with her statutory obligation under the Conservation Act to act as an advocate for the protection of New Zealand’s unique natural heritage?
Hon KATE WILKINSON Link to this
I have always said that I was happy to have a discussion paper—it was always a discussion paper, not a decision paper—happy to go out to the public for feedback, and then happy to listen to that feedback.
Why did not she, as the Minister of Conservation, approach John Key to scrap the Government’s mining plans on protected schedule 4 land, rather than leaving it to Gerry Brownlee to do so, as Mr Key told us happened yesterday?
Hon KATE WILKINSON Link to this
I think the member is making some misguided assumptions. There were many, many discussions with Cabinet Ministers and members about the submission process, the discussion paper, and the public feedback that followed.