Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 24 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18767. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party)to the Minister of Conservation: Does he agree with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright that joint decision-making with the Minister for Energy and Resources on mining the conservation estate undermines the role of the Minister of Conservation as guardian of that estate and how will he respond to her advice to Parliament that conservation should take precedence?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Conservation):No I do not agree. The joint decision making applies only to significant tier 1 mining applications and I actually find it both constructive and useful to have the input of the Minister for Energy and Resources and the expertise of his ministry into such decisions.Hon Ruth Dyson: Oh tell the truth. That can’t be true.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I note Ruth Dyson interjecting opposite. It would just be useful if she and Damien O’Connor were on the same page on such issues. We are a balanced Government that wants jobs and growth as well as conserving our special places and species. Over a third of New Zealand is in public conservation land. That includes a huge amount of minerals. This Government is of a view that we should use those minerals where it can be responsibly done.Te Ururoa Flavell: Will the Minister investigate the opportunity to set aside the 55 ecological areas that are currently in the conservation estate and include them in schedule 4 as recommended by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Yes I am open-minded about reviewing areas of stewardship land that are of high value. I note that the member of Parliament for Auckland Central has advanced the stewardship land on Great Barrier Island being upgraded to a conservation park—Hon David Parker: You’ve done nothing for 3 years—3 years you’ve been thinking about that.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: —and that is an idea that I am advancing. Not 3 years; she raised it last year and Labour was in Government for 9 years and did nothing. Our Government’s view is that we do need to protect those very special areas but we also need to acknowledge that there are significant parts of our public conservation land that are old gravels ex-mining areas and the like and it would be foolish to lock it all up.Jami-Lee Ross: Does the Minister agree that it is too easy to gain a consent to mine on conservation land?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No I do not. We need only look at the approval process for the Bathurst mine on the Denniston Plateau to realise how slow and how difficult it is to get consent for mining on public conservation land. The application for that mine was originally lodged in 2008. I am embarrassed to note that there were over 30 hearings before commissioners before the High Court the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court over that particular application and I actually think it shows the opposite—that it is very difficult to get consent to mine on public conservation land.Te Ururoa Flavell: Will the Minister respond to the recommendations of the report with proposals to ensure that mining operations on conservation land provide a net conservation benefit as well as compensating for damage that they cause?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I think the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s reports around net conservation benefit is where the new thinking is moving around trying to find this right balance. That was adopted for instance with the Bathurst mine where the department has been able to secure tens of millions of dollars of additional pest control work which will result in thousands more kiwi compared with a very small number that are affected by the mine. So that is why my department is very open-minded about the net conservation benefit approach.