KEY POINTS:
The National Party is reinventing itself as a blue-green party. At recent conferences and seminars run by the Environmental Defence Society, National's environment spokesperson has revealed fresh and sometimes welcome perspectives on the environment.
The party is developing policies on the Resource Management Act, on water allocation and quality. It proposes an Environmental Protection Agency. Its leader now endorses New Zealand's participation in the Kyoto Protocol and has announced support for emissions trading with no sector exempt.
That is in stark contrast to its virulent campaign not so long ago against the carbon tax and action to reduce farming emissions. Indeed, Mr Key has announced bold greenhouse gas reduction targets for the next 50 years.
This recent green repositioning is in response to increasing concerns among New Zealanders and the wider global community about the state of the environment, including climate change. The environment is now big, mainstream news and National is moving to accommodate that as part of an overall rebranding.
The new approach threatens to outflank Labour on environmental policy - analogous to what is happening in Britain, where the Conservatives arguably propose more robust action on climate change than the Government.
National's opponents, of course, are scornful of the green shift and question the depth of the commitments. Labour politicians ask if this is for real or just a populist green wash aimed at winning votes.
Will National walk the green talk if it forms a government? Can it be trusted on environmental policy?
For our part, the Environmental Defence Society welcomes any party moving to embrace a sensible environmental agenda. We are politically non-aligned and will give our advice on policy initiatives if asked.
We made a substantive submission on National's blue-green discussion paper. We want all political parties to develop good policies on the environment.
But the true test of the sincerity and authenticity of a political party's policy stance is how its members vote in Parliament.
Shortly, National will have the opportunity to reinforce its new green credentials by supporting a local bill aimed at saving the Waitakere Ranges from subdivision and development.
The Waitakere Ranges Heritage Bill seeks to strengthen protection for the Ranges and its outstanding landscape and ecological values.
The Waitakere City Council is sponsoring the Bill and engaged in a huge amount of public consultation in preparing it. The Auckland Regional Council is a strong supporter.
Public opinion polls indicate an overwhelming degree of support for the bill from the local and the wider regional communities.
We are now heading towards crunch time when it will be reported back to the House from the select committee.
It is important to remember that the Waitakere Ranges consist of a core area of protected regional parkland administered by the Auckland Regional Council, together with a surrounding area of private land reaching down the western and eastern foothills.
More than 2 million people visit the region each year. It is unique in its size and location next to our biggest urban conurbation.
It provides a scenic and recreational contrast to the densely packed metropolitan area. But its qualities are being constantly eroded by burgeoning subdivision and development.
The privately owned rural land that surrounds the park is moving inexorably towards urban.
In the foothills, 40 years ago the minimum lot size was 20.2ha. At the beginning of the 1980s it was 5ha. More recently it reduced to 4ha and now lots are being proposed at 1ha and below.
The built environment is beginning to dominate the Ranges' landscape. It desperately needs further protection to deal with the unique development pressures it faces.
National's response to date has been to oppose the Bill. Instead, it proposes the creation of a national park in the Ranges.
But this proposal would gain nothing because it would only apply to the existing regional parkland which is already well protected.
Moreover, the required amendment to the National Parks Act would open a hornets' nest of concern about the status of existing national parks. It just wouldn't work.
If the National Party wants to reinforce and demonstrate its new green credentials, then here's its first real test.
It means setting aside its historic propensity to support the development lobby, come what may.
It means focusing clearly on the wider public interest in protecting the Waitakere Ranges for present and future generations to enjoy.
It means firmly rejecting the self-serving lobbying by people who want to simply subdivide and run.
If there are aspects of the bill that National thinks needs improving then the select committee process is the way to achieve that. The bill does not affect existing property rights.
What is does is establish a higher threshold for subdivision, a process that creates new property rights that weren't there before.
The bill will make fragmentation of the private land more difficult and that is precisely what is required.
National's apparent commitment to new environmental policies is welcome. But it needs to prove its new green credentials if it wants to be taken seriously by voters, especially those in the wider Auckland region.
Here is a great opportunity for it to do just that.
* Gary Taylor is chairman of the Environmental Defence Society (www.eds.org.nz). He has been involved in conservation advocacy for the Waitakere Ranges for more than 30 years.
