DOC's advocacy role under review

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson has ordered an investigation into her department's advocacy role - a move that has alarmed conservationists.

Criticism from farming groups and others about the Department of Conservation's (DOC) involvement in resource management hearings prompted the review, Wilkinson said.

"I feel that I want to see if that criticism is justified or not," she said, just weeks after taking over the conservation portfolio from Tim Groser.

There was no time line for the inquiry, but officials were already working on it, she said.

"I don't have a feeling for which way I want to go. I just have a feeling that it should be looked at."

Environmental Defence Society chairman Gary Taylor said from Auckland that he was concerned Wilkinson had been "got at" by the farming sector so early in her tenure, when previous ministers had dismissed such a review as extreme.

It would be an environmental disaster for DOC not to be advocating at consent hearings, he said.

Government changes to the Resource Management Act had reduced the number of resource consents being publicly notified and there was a question mark over environmental groups' access to legal aid, Taylor said.

"DOC has the resources to run important cases over biodiversity and landscape, and to have them constrained or further limited . . . is a great concern," he said.

Forest & Bird advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell, of Wellington, said that over the past decade, DOC had more frequently pulled back from submitting at hearings.

A year ago, Prime Minister John Key ordered an inquiry into accusations that DOC's silence had been bought over a $175,000 deal with Meridian Energy regarding the power company's Project Hayes wind farm in Otago.

The Government told the department to be more open about publicising such deals.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said Wilkinson's investigation was part of the Government's broad anti-environmental agenda.

"The battle for New Zealand's environment happens on a case-by- case basis under the Resource Management Act structure. They're making sure that the field is slanted against the environmental agenda," he said.

DOC's $1.6 billion annual budget has been cut by $54 million over the next four years.

Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson called Wilkinson's investigation "great news".

DOC had an important role but he was mystified why it wanted that "higher-level influence" over private property when it could not afford to manage the high country, as shown by tenure review in the Mackenzie Country, he said.

The department had appealed against many district and regional plans, he said.

"Using their taxpayer-funded treasure chest to fight ratepayers doesn't seem logical."

- © Fairfax NZ News