Govt shifts focus of mine review

The Government has ordered its controversial review of mining within national parks to be broadened amid signs it is backing away from the proposal.

Prime Minister John Key said yesterday that the review of schedule four land held within New Zealand's conservation estate had been widened about three weeks ago.

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee said last year he was investigating whether there were areas within schedule four of the Crown Minerals Act that could be removed so mining could go ahead.

Mining is banned within schedule four, which contains the highest-value one-third of the total land in the conservation estate, including the national parks. Brownlee has said it could contain minerals worth $140 billion.

Forest & Bird says the Government plans to allow mining in 7000 hectares of high-value conservation land in the West Coast's Paparoa National Park, on Great Barrier Island and on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Key yesterday refused to confirm or deny the claim and said there had been "continued hysteria" in the media about mining.

"I wouldn't jump to any conclusions. The issue is still before the Government for consideration," he said. "When we do decide what we're doing, we'll go out and have a discussion with people about it."

He said that while mining was an area where New Zealand could increase its revenue, the Government was "very conscious and cognisant" of environmental issues.

"I've made it clear many times that I want to balance two things – the economic benefits we stand to gain from increased mining activity and the obvious environmental responsibilities we have."

Key said Brownlee's review of schedule four land had been broadened to include other land within the estate where mining was already allowed.

There are 82 concessions for mining on the Department of Conservation (DOC) estate outside schedule four.

"We're not ruling out schedule four land; we're just saying that the discussion document is likely to be a broader discussion than just schedule four land," Key said.

He said Brownlee had been right to take a series of proposals to the Cabinet, but "some areas would never be acceptable to the Cabinet".

A public discussion document setting out the Government's plans was due last month, but Key said it was still "some weeks" away.

Labour conservation spokesman David Parker said the report should be released immediately so the public could see what the Government was planning.

Green Party co-leader Meteria Turei said it appeared the Government was getting cold feet about the proposal to mine national park land in the wake of public opposition.

Key said the Government's polling had shown that more than half of people were in favour of the idea.

Among them is Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn, who said yesterday there were "huge areas of the DOC estate that could be mined.

"The bottom line is that we are not going to let anybody ruin the West Coast, and the RMA [Resource Management Act] protects it," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News