7. Regional Economic Development—Mining on Conservation LandHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister for Regional Economic DevelopmentRegional Economic Development—Mining on Conservation Land7. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister for Regional Economic Development: Does he stand by his statement the extractive sector will not be written out of any script of regional development that I or the party I belong to are a part of"?Hon SHANE JONES (Minister for Regional Economic Development) Within the context in which the remarks were given absolutely. Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does he believe there should be new mines on the Department of Conservation's (DOC's) stewardship land?Hon SHANE JONES: When I made those remarks—the member ought to bear in mind that words have meaning and all of my words have thoughts behind them; after all in the absence of thoughts as Shakespeare said your words never get to heaven. We are currently undergoing a process of categorising land that is known as stewardship land and as that process unfolds as the former parliamentary commissioner advised we will assign appropriate values to those lands. As that process reaches some conclusion on stewardship land at that point I will be in a better position to know as to what proportion should be dedicated to economic development and what proportion to preservation.Hon Paul Goldsmith: How can he say as he was quoted by the New Zealand Herald that "The extractive sector will not be written out of any script of regional development that I or the party I belong to are a part of" if he is not prepared to clearly state that there should be the possibility of a new mine on low-value lands on the DOC estate—which by the way comprise 85 percent of the land on the West Coast?Hon SHANE JONES: I am well aware having returned from the West Coast as something of a hero after a brief visit there—[Interruption]. The audience realised that although I spoke at Shantytown my vision unlike the last regime bears no shanty resemblance or resonances for that part of the country. As I said the mining sector is already part of the political economy of that part of the country. The statutory decisions lie with other Ministers but the quality of my advocacy will continue because unlike that member I am a lion in the regions I am a lion in the House but I am not a wimp when I go back to Epsom.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Will he be a hero and resign as Minister if the Government he is part of bans new mining on stewardship land?Hon SHANE JONES: As I said I can remind the member that I've had a go at resigning before. That is not in the immediate future of anyone that I know on this side of the House. We will undertake a process which actually stretches back to 1987. We will move forward on some of the sentiments articulated in an earlier report from the parliamentary commissioner and ensure that stewardship land is robustly categorised. The actual formal and legal decisions lie with other Ministers but rest assured the Coast and New Zealand in general will hear a clear voice from myself reminding everyone of the importance of the extractive sector. Hon Paul Goldsmith: What message was he sending and to whom when he said to the New Zealand Herald: "Stewardship land has been lying around since Rogernomics times and any changes to stewardship land will be a change of policy agreed to by the entire Government."—was it to the Prime Minister who announced in the Speech from the Throne that there will be no new mining on conservation land under this Government and stewardship land is part of the conservation estate or was it somebody else?Hon SHANE JONES: The full quote referred to the fact that just as the provincial fund is not some joystick belonging to just my good self—so all of us; we bring our perspectives forward. And as my colleague said in a recent interview these are decisions of such large import they will embrace all of the perspectives that lead to a sustainable future for the regions of New Zealand."