4. Mining in Conservation Areas—West Coast Solid Energy and Government PolicyMETIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for Economic DevelopmentMining in Conservation Areas—West Coast Solid Energy and Government Policy4. METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for Economic Development: Nā ka uru atu ki roto i Te Mahere Mahi Ōhanga Tai Poutini West Coast a Te Kāwanatanga he whakatuwheranga ake o te whenua taiao mō te mahi maina?[Will the Government's Tai Poutini West Coast Economic Action Plan include opening up conservation land for mining?]Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Finance) on behalf of the Minister for Economic Development: The proposed action plan is still under development by the region. The member along with the rest of us will see shortly what local businesses local community leaders and local people propose to boost regional economic growth and add jobs to the West Coast but the member can be assured the Government will listen carefully to what the region proposes.Metiria Turei: Did any potential buyers of Solid Energy's assets approach the Government and ask for new mining opportunities in conservation land or for rule changes to make it easier to open new mines; if so who?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I am not aware of any such approaches—certainly of Ministers—in that regard. I am not sure that that is actually linked too closely to the regional growth plan anyway.Metiria Turei: Can he confirm that the Government intended to sweeten the Solid Energy deal by offering new mining areas in conservation land to potential buyers including Bathurst Resources Talley's and Phoenix Coal?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: No I cannot confirm that at all.Metiria Turei: Did Government Ministers or officials tell potential buyers of Solid Energy's assets that new coalmining opportunities might be made available to them on the Buller plateau or other conservation land if they bought Solid Energy's assets?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: This is quite a long long way from the primary question. To the best of my knowledge for the member's benefit the answer is no but if she had actually signalled that this was her line of questioning then I would have had more of an opportunity to check more fully with colleagues.Metiria Turei: Was he aware of or involved in placing any pressure on the Minister of Conservation or on Conservation officials to open up land for coalmining contravening the purpose which is to advocate for the conservation of natural and historic resources"?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Again this is a million miles from the primary question in terms of what the member is asking. All I can say though is that the member will be aware as are organisations like Forest & Bird and others that have been quoted in the media recently in regard to the issues that the member raises that there has been a long ongoing discussion between Ministers and wider stakeholder groups in terms of which parts of the Denniston Plateau would be available for mining or not. I do not think that specifically relates to the Tai Poutini West Coast Economic Action Plan.David Seymour: If the Government has not done any of those things what is it doing to encourage the extractive industries?Mr SPEAKER: Order! No the questions now—and that one particularly—have led a long long way from economic development. That has nothing to do with economic development on the West Coast. I invite now a further question from Metiria Turei—[Interruption] Order! In calling the questions we do need to focus back to the portfolio of economic development.Metiria Turei: Does the Minister remember in 2010 when 50000 New Zealanders marched in the streets to stop mining on conservation land and in national parks and can he assure all of those New Zealanders that the Government is not engaged in any backroom deal to revive the coalmining industry on conservation land?Mr SPEAKER: There are two supplementary questions there; the Minister can address either or both if he wants.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Again—just a clarification: was the member referring to mining in national parks? Is that her question?Mr SPEAKER: I will allow the member to clarify.Metiria Turei: I can re-ask the question if you would prefer?Mr SPEAKER: No no just—Metiria Turei: I said both on conservation land and in national parks in my question.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: What I can tell the member is that in relation to the Tai Poutini West Coast Economic Action Plan which is the premise of her primary question I am pretty sure it does not actually have anything in it about mining on conservation land or at the national parks but we will all have to wait and see until the actual plan is produced and the member will have to wait along with the rest of us.Metiria Turei: Does the Minister advocate for more coalmining on conservation land?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I do not know that I can see inside his mind right at this point but I can tell the member that in relation to the Tai Poutini West Coast Economic Action Plan which is the subject of her question I do not think the Minister is spending his time thinking about opening up conservation land for more mining."