Mackey Moana: Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMackey Moana: Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 11 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9299. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MOANA MACKEY (Labour): Part 2 of the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill of course deals with the Conservation Act which is very pertinent on “Love DOC Day”; on a day that we on this side of the Chamber are showing our support for the work the Department of Conservation does. We want to say to all of thestaff of the Department of Conservation that even if the National Government does not appreciate what they do we certainly do. So it is very very timely—Hon Member: So do we!MOANA MACKEY: Well the National Party members might say that they do but then they cut the funding which clearly shows that it is all lip service.But coming back to the Conservation Act the changes being made under the Conservation Act are typical of the problems right through this piece of legislation. There are some very good things in this legislation there are some very positive changes that are being made but it is always one step forward two steps back with the National Government. So although under Part 2 of this legislation we are very pleased to see the automatic inclusion—[Interruption]The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Order! There is far too much background noise going on. It is totally discourteous to the honourable member trying to address the business of the Committee. Please be considerate of others.MOANA MACKEY: As I was saying with the National Government it is always one step forward two three four five steps backwards. Although in Part 2 of this bill we are very pleased to see that new reserve land will be automatically included in schedule 4 what is more disappointing is once again the dilution of the powers of the Minister of Conservation. Under the changes to Part 2 whereas it used to be the preserve of the Minister of Conservation to decide on the status of the land now that is going to be taken away from the Minister of Conservation and handed to Cabinet by Order in Council. So we are seeing right through this piece of legislation a weakening of the role of the Minister of Conservation.It is important to remind members that the Minister of Conservation is the Minister who is responsible for the stewardship of the Department of Conservation estate on behalf of New Zealanders—that is their mandate. So we have seen in Part 1 of this bill that where there is an application for a mining activity to be carried out on Department of Conservation land it used to be the Minister of Conservation who weighed up what the impact would be on Department of Conservation land and made that decision in the best interests of the preservation of that land for all New Zealanders. Now half of that responsibility has gone to the Minister of Energy and Resources. So the Minister of Energy and Resources who clearly has a vested interest in seeing those projects going ahead now has half the decision-making power and that is entirely inappropriate. It is not just inappropriate; it is an absolute boon for lawyers because this is going to result in judicial review after judicial review after judicial review.You see the Minister of Energy and Resources out there constantly promoting mining making it quite clear that they want projects to go ahead going to opening of company offices doing all the things that a Minister of Energy and Resources does—and there is nothing wrong with a Minister of Energy and Resources doing those things; that is their role. But then to say that they are unbiased or have not predetermined their choice when it comes to actually making a decision about a concession on Department of Conservation land I do not think that that is going to be feasible. It is going to result in people who are unhappy with the decision taking a judicial review saying that a proper process was not followed because the Minister of Energy and Resources had made up their mind all along. The simple thing to do would be to leave things as they are and leave it to the Minister of Conservation because that is where it is appropriate.As I said we are pleased to see the automatic inclusion of reserve land in schedule 4 but are very disappointed to see that despite the fact that the Government has claimed to have backed down on mining on schedule 4 land we are already seeing more exploratory work being done. It is like the Japanese with whaling you know—this is just scientific research nothing to see here we just want to see what is there. Well theonly reason you would want to see what is there—and it is private companies that are doing this not the Government—is that if at some point the Government said to them: “You know what? Yes we are going to let you”—