Sage Eugenie: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sage Eugenie: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 25 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:3913. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
EUGENIE SAGE (Green) 
: 
 E te Mangai o te Whare tena koe. The speech from the last speaker “Mr Ardern” talked about telling the truth. I will tell the truth about what this Government is doing with our natural assets as well as our State-owned assets. Just as it is selling off our State-owned energy companies the Government is selling off and trading away our natural assets and I am talking to two particular proposals in Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. It is Riverstone Holdings’ proposed monorail and Milford Dart’s proposed tunnel between Glenorchy and the Hollyford. I am very pleased the Minister of Conservation is here because she recently received some of the concerns of the people of Te Anau that that proposal for the tunnel would completely undermine tourism in the area. It would take people away from visiting Te Anau. 
These two proposals are proposed for one of our most distinctive and special natural areas: the wilds of Fiordland of Snowdon Forest. They are both part of Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. It is one of only 188 areas that are recognised by Unesco for their outstanding value to all humankind. 
Earlier this year I walked through the Kiwi Burn and the Upukerora valleys where the monorail is proposed to go. The trees and the forest in those valleys—it is red beech forest. There are some very beautiful trees; some very old trees that are potentially hundreds and hundreds of years old. The monorail would create a 200 metre wide 30 kilometre long scar through the Snowdon Forest. By the Department of Conservation’s own estimates it would destroy 20000 trees which would have to be logged and cleared to create the corridor for the monorail. 
Riverstone Holdings is targeting conservation land because of course it is much cheaper to socialise its costs by using public conservation land for free or for a modest concession rather than buying private land for its proposed monorail. Yet the Department of Conservation is supposed to be managing these areas for the preservation and protection of the natural resources that are there. It is the habitat of threatened species like kaka kakariki and the long-tailed bat yet Riverstone Holdings proposes putting people in these sealed tin cans to send them swishing through the landscape. How will that increase their appreciation of what a New Zealand forest is like? By cutting the journey between Queenstown and Te Anau and missing out that beautiful section round the lake where the road is in the shadow of the Remarkables and you are looking out across Lake Wakatipu how will that increase people’s appreciation of New Zealand? 
It goes through an area that at the moment is perfect for families and novice trampers because it is close to the Mavora Lakes. Sensible tourism operators people whom the Green Party supports and who are establishing the Save Fiordland Society see that the future of that industry is based on getting people into the outdoors and encouraging them to see what nature is really like not just to have them speeding through the landscape in a sealed tin can. Those operators are part of the Save Fiordland Society. Those people are banding together to mobilise public opinion against these two very destructive high-impact proposals. 
We have not had a good record from this Minister. She presided over the freeholding of part of what was to be part of Craigieburn Forest Park and allowed it to be traded and sold off to the Porters Ski Area development. Mr Michael Slee who was the director of development for the Porters Ski Area proposal is also involved in the monorail proposal. Once they had their concessions from the Minister what happened? Blackfish which was involved in putting forward Porters Ski Area was onsold to four Russian multimillionaires. Given the large amount of capital that is required for both the tunnel and the monorail what would we see here? We would see overseas corporates that might benefit from the jobs and the consultancy contracts involved in constructing the monorail and the tunnel but these would be overseas-owned companies destroying New Zealand nature in return for their dividends going offshore. 
People are mobilising to stop these proposals in order to protect the outstanding values of the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area because they recognise that this is conservation land.