Outdoor Recreation Sector Unites Against the Conservation Amendment Bill

New Zealand’s public conservation land belongs to all New Zealanders. It is where we hunt, tramp, paddle, climb, fly, cave and ride. The Government’s new Conservation Amendment Bill puts that land at risk, and New Zealand’s leading outdoor recreation groups have joined forces to call for its core aspects to be redrafted, in particular to provide public reassurance to New Zealanders that their recreational land is not for sale.

The group spans hunting, tramping, mountain biking, caving, whitewater paddling, hang gliding and climbing. It includes the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, Federated Mountain Clubs, Mountain Bike New Zealand, New Zealand Alpine Club, Whitewater New Zealand, the New Zealand Speleological Society, the New Zealand Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, New Zealand Canyoning and the Aotearoa Climbing Access Trust.

“Our core concern is that the bill places no meaningful limits on the disposal of public conservation land, while stripping away the independent checks that currently protect it,” says Allan Brent, FMC President.

At the heart of the recreation coalition’s concerns is what members describe as a fundamental reordering of priorities for public conservation land. The Bill inserts a new commercial development mandate that sits alongside conservation, with no clear subordination to it. 

“It’s arguably flipping the DOC priority, putting recreation last, conservation in the middle and commercialisation at the top of the priority list.  If it’s not doing that, like some of the government’s analyses say, then the issue is now at least arguable.  We can’t have that lack of clarity about such a core issue – what our conservation land is for,” said Callum Sheridan, President of the NZDA.

“It’s probably possible to fix these things, but the government needs to listen to the concerns being raised by our members and the public, take them seriously and make significant changes, or withdraw the Bill. We can’t support the Bill in its current form. It’s too enabling and open ended, with too much top down power and no public input to key decisions,” said Edwin Sheppard of Aotearoa Climbing Access Trust.

The recreation coalition is also alarmed by the concentration of power in the Minister of Conservation, with Conservation Boards and the New Zealand Conservation Authority sidelined. Members say this leaves the public with no meaningful recourse short of the High Court.

The group’s joint submission will call for the Bill to be redrafted, or to have it withdrawn.  “That will take some time, but so be it.  The land will be there forever,” said Brent.

“Any redraft must specifically identify land proposed for disposal and put clear and meaningful guardrails around disposal, require public consultation for each parcel, assess recreation value alongside conservation value, and preserve independent oversight mechanisms,” says Sheridan.

Submissions on the Conservation Amendment Bill close at midnight on July 2. The group is encouraging all New Zealanders who use public conservation land to make a submission, contact their local MP telling them about their special places locally, and requesting to present to the Select Committee in their home town and not in Wellington.

Image: Dickie Spur Hut, Robyn Wilson