Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:
West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new mines" policy for conservation land has been parked before the general election in September.
[...]
On Monday, O'Connor said it was a complex issue and there was "not time".
"There's a hell of a lot of work to do."
He referred to the West Coast's "unique perspective" and the large number of existing mines on conservation land.
Its Labour in a nutshell: promise big, do nothing, don't deliver (see also: "my generation's nuclear-free moment"). Its dishonest, but its also stupid: it discounts the value of every future promise they make, and people don't turn out to vote for a party they don't trust. It's also a breach of trust with the Greens, who worked hard for this policy, and have now seen it stalled due to Labour chickenshittery. And that's not going to make confidence talks with them any easier in future.
On the positive side, the policy being "parked" means it is no longer under "active consideration", which reduces the scope for the government to keep information on it secret. So I guess its time to hit the OIA and fine out exactly how much or how little they did, and how this breach of faith happened.
