13 October 2006

Review fails to deliver on biodiversity, economic outcomes

While it has welcomed the major land tenure review released today by Minister of Land Information David Parker, the Green Party remain concerned at the review's failure to protect biodiversity and obtain a quality outcome for taxpayers.

"The report fails to recognise that the Government's objectives include the protection of significant biodiversity value. Research at Landcare has shown that conservation and biodiversity values are not being protected," Green Party Conservation Spokesperson Metiria Turei says.

"The most valuable conservation areas with the most threatened species, which tend to be at lower altitudes, are being privatised and grazed. DOC gets the mountain-tops, with relatively little bio-diversity value.

"In addition, people are being required to pay a price for steep bluffs with little grazing value that is ten times as much per hectare as the going rate for land that has highly sought-after subdivision and tourism potential. Such cases indicate that the public is getting little economic or ecological value out of the process.

"The process needs to be stopped now, and re-evaluated. Otherwise the public will continue to get ripped off," Mrs. Turei says.

" In particular, the Government needs to rethink the valuation methods used by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). If LINZ cannot be relied on to get a good deal for the taxpayer then the process must be opened up to allow the public to scrutinise deals before they go through."

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