National began its government by trying to open our national parks to mining. While that failed, they still consistently pushed for mining on conservation land, and dragged their feet on re-classification of stewardship land to enable it. But the new government is putting an end to all that:
The government has announced it will block all new mining on conservation land.
Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage said public conservation lands were there for nature to thrive and for New Zealanders and visitors to enjoy.
"Mining, especially open-cast mining runs counter to that.
"It destroys indigenous vegetation and habitats, permanently changes natural landscapes and can create sizeable waste rock dumps with a risk of acid mine drainage polluting waterways.
"New Zealanders expect to see our conservation lands and their wild landscapes and indigenous plants and wildlife protected from being dug up by bulldozers and diggers."
And I expect there'll be a law change in due course to unravel National's changes to the Conservation Act and remove the Minister of Energy from any decision-making role on mining on conservation land, as well as to the Crown Minerals Act to strengthen Schedule 4.
Sorry, miners - our natural taonga are off limits. Fuck off back to Australia if you want to pillage the earth.
