Conservation Minister drilled over mining

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson got drilled on how mining protected land is impinging on her environmental responsibilities today.

At Parliament's local government and environment committee, the minister faced questions about the Government's mining proposal to remove land from the protection of schedule four of the Crown Minerals Act.

A consultation document was released and more than 33,000 submissions have been received - including one from a mining company urging the Government not to dig up New Zealand's most pristine areas.

Labour MP Phil Twyford said Ms Wilkinson's advocacy role as Conservation Minister has been undermined since backing the mining proposal.

His views were supported by fellow Labour MP Jacinda Ardern who also questioned the minister's role.

Ms Wilkinson described her role to be a steward of conservation land on behalf of New Zealanders, and leave it in better condition.

Her response was that she supported a discussion paper, and has not approved any mining application on conservation land.

"I'm not quite sure why it's not understood that it is a discussion paper, not a decision paper. I'm quite happy with the approval process being put out for discussion for New Zealanders to have an input," she said.

"I have not actually approved any mining application on conservation land. My signature has not been on any proposal on conservation land, so I think I'm doing a pretty good job actually."

Green Party MP Kevin Hague believed the Department of Conservation has taken a commercial direction, and its initiatives had almost nothing on conserving New Zealand's biodiversity.

"Your priorities are very commercially focused and that seems to me to be at odds with the priorities that you should have on the Conservation Act," he said.

Ms Wilkinson said the Government was focused in economic growth, and she believed economic opportunities and environmental responsibility could be balanced.

Conservation director-general Al Morrison explained the department's focus for the committee, saying climate change and degradation of natural resources have negatively impacted on the environment, and therefore the economy.

He said there is a seamlessness between the state of natural biodiversity and the quality of the services that came out of them, giving the department a commercial focus over the past five years.

"The second thing that has given us a commercially focus, is that we work over 4500 businesses on conservation land. Those business are critical to the wellbeing of families, regional economies and the national economy. We have a responsibility to work better with them.

"I think there is no contradiction between conservation making a return on taxpayer assets and doing its core work - and that is the direction that the department has been moving in."

- NZPA