MEDIA RELEASE. December 7, 2011. Society for Conservation Biology, Auckland

The re-elected National Government broke a pre-election promise over mining on the public conservation land on the West Coast’s Denniston Plateau on its first working day after the election according to Emeritus Professor Sir Alan Mark FRSNZ, of Otago University’s Botany Department.

After last year's U-turn over mining on protected Schedule 4 Land, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson and Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee said significant applications to mine public land "should be publicly notified".

In the lead-up to Saturday's general election, Forest & Bird attempted in meetings and letters to have Minister Wilkinson to commit to public consultation on Australian-owned Bathurst Resource's plans for an opencast mine on the West Coast's Denniston Plateau.

But in a letter sent on Monday – the first working day after Saturday's election – Wilkinson notified Forest & Bird’s general manager Mike Britton that access for mining on conservation land was considered under the Crown Minerals Act, which did not provide for public consultation. Therefore, public consultation would "not be appropriate", she said. This was described as a "slap in the face" both for the organisation and for people who wanted a say on the application. Forest and Bird said "We consider it a huge breach of faith", with which, as an Ambassador and Distinguished Life Member of the Society, I fully concur. This is very clearly a broken promise.

Wilkinson's spokesperson said the Government was "moving forward" on its July 2010 promise as part of a Crown Minerals Act review. "That includes working out what constitutes a significant mining application." There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Bathurst Resources Denniston mining proposal must constitute a “significant mining proposal” by anyone’s assessment. The Government would not say when its review would be completed but expected "significant progress" to be made early next year.

Alan F. Mark, FRSNZ, CBE, KNZM. Emeritus Professor, Department of Botany,
University of Otago. 7/12/2011.

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