Green Party Coromandel candidate Pamela Grealey says there will be strong concern across the Coromandel electorate about Government changes that would make it easier for public conservation land to be exchanged or disposed of.

“This Government is already giving industry unprecedented access to public conservation land, and now it wants to make it easier for that land to be sold off altogether,” says Grealey.

“Once these places are gone, they are gone.”

Grealey says communities across the Coromandel electorate have spent generations protecting and restoring conservation land, native habitats and public access areas.

“People throughout our electorate have volunteered countless hours trapping pests, planting natives, restoring wetlands, maintaining tracks and protecting biodiversity. Local communities have invested deeply in these landscapes because they understand their value cannot simply be measured in dollars.”

“The public investment in conservation land across this region has also been enormous. Successive generations of New Zealanders have funded the protection and restoration of these places for the benefit of everyone.”

The Government today announced changes to conservation settings that would expand the ability to exchange or dispose of conservation land.

“This Government does not have a mandate to start dismantling conservation protections and opening the door to more privatisation of public land,” says Grealey.

“In places like the Coromandel, alarm bells ring immediately when protections are weakened. Communities here have fought long and hard to protect special places from inappropriate mining and development proposals.”

Grealey says conservation land should remain protected for future generations, public access and the survival of native species already under increasing pressure.

“These landscapes are part of who we are. They belong to all New Zealanders, not whoever can extract the most short-term profit from them.”

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