Sage Eugenie; O'Connor GregCROWN MINERALS (PROHIBITION OF MINING) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): I move That the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Environment Committee to consider the bill.I am delighted to be speaking on this bill. It's the only member's bill that I've been lucky enough to have had drawn in nearly 12 years in this House. It's a bill which seeks to fulfil Labour's commitment that there be no new mines on conservation land. The 2017 Speech from the Throne set out the Government's priorities for that term and it said there will be no new mines on conservation land. Yet nearly six years later Tai Tokerau hapū Forest & Bird and communities in the north have had to organise to protect Puketi Forest one of our last remaining unlogged kauri forests from the prospecting and potentially destructive mining of Mineralogy International directed by billionaire Clive Palmer.Kauri forests are nature's cathedrals. Individual trees can live for centuries. Why would we contemplate mining them? Last term New Zealand First was a handbrake on that commitment that there'd be no new mines. That handbrake has gone from this House and for good I hope. We can act to change the law—in this case the Crown Minerals Act—to properly protect our public conservation lands. Those lands and waters comprise nearly a third of Aotearoa New Zealand. We need this bill because only half of the conservation estate is protected from mining through Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act 1991. Schedule 4 prevents access applications for Crown-owned minerals such as gold and coal from being granted in national parks nature reserves scientific reserves wilderness areas wildlife sanctuaries marine reserves and Ramsar wetlands. Apart from things like ventilation shafts this bill would extend the protection that Schedule 4 provides to prohibit new exploration prospecting and mining activities on a Crown land held under the Conservation Act and other conservation legislation such as the Reserves Act not just those categories that are listed in Schedule 4. And the bill would prohibit new coal mines on any land after 1 January 2025.In 2022 there were more than 516 permits and mining licences extending over more than 424000 hectares of conservation land and since then just one company Mineralogy International has subsequently had minerals permits approved for thousands of hectares on the West Coast surrounding Kōtuku Moana / Lake Brunner.New Zealanders need the confidence that their public conservation lands will be protected as places where nature can thrive where they can walk tramp climb fish and gather kai without the threat of those places being cleared dug up for private profit. Hundreds of New Zealanders have written to the Green Party saying that they believe our conservation lands and waters should be protected giving the reasons why that protection should exist. As Peter from Marlborough says—and I quote—I worked for some years on the West Coast and have seen the terrible mess left by gold mines in recent years. Loss of habitat biodiversity fouling of streams with huge amounts of sediment and vegetation as well as oil from machinery. Conservation land must be just that for conservation not for production of assets the planet doesn't need." Josh from the Bay of Plenty says—and I quote—"Bulldozing trees that absorb carbon to dig up carbon and put it into the atmosphere is about the worst thing you can do never mind the habitat destruction and all of the rest of it." And as Jane said—and I quote—"This is the time to make decisions for the long term to stick to good agreements made when times were easier and never take decisions which only benefit short-term trade and employment. There are other ways to help those things but there is no way back once destruction is allowed to happen."New Zealanders care. They know that we depend absolutely and utterly on nature for our economy for our wellbeing for our lives and the health of our communities. Forested uplands protect steep slopes from erosion. The snow fields and glaciers in the mountain lands of the conservation estate feed rivers and streams which provide water for communities and farmers downstream. We protect these areas and we protect our future. Mining causes significant harm to both protected species and landscapes. Digging huge pits for coal and gold river terraces for alluvial gold mining can permanently change landforms and landscapes and destroy conservation values and nature in the process. Former Government mining company Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd decapitated Mount Augustus the habitat for our giant carnivorous land snail Powelliphanta augusta in its quest for coal. Where do those remaining snails now live? Largely in ice cream containers in fridges in the Department of Conservation's offices in Hokitika.So mining does create damage. We've got acid mine-drainage from big waste-rock stacks. We've got a huge pit in the middle of the North Westland wildlife corridor on the West Coast—those forests are supposed to enable wildlife to move from the Paparoa Ranges to the Southern Alps and instead Macrae's Mining Co. and then OceanaGold Ltd have mined them there are big tailings reservoirs and big waste-rock stacks which pose a risk to the Īnangahua River and the Kawatiri Buller River. That conservation land has been stripped bare of forest—it won't recover in our lifetimes.We need this bill because mining has got an extremely privileged status compared to almost every other commercial activity on conservation land. If you want to do a guided tourism operation gather sphagnum moss those activities have got to be consistent with the purpose for which the land is held. Yet under our current law mining on conservation land can be approved even if it is inconsistent with conservation outcomes. Economic benefits can be prioritised over conservation even though the Department of Conservation holds the land and is supposed to manage it for conservation purposes.Of the mining which happens on conservation land 75 percent happens on the West Coast of the South Island Te Tai Poutini coast. Most of those permits target gold or coal they don't target the essential minerals or materials that would help us to shift to a low carbon economy. And the bill would still allow mining of course on the two thirds of Aotearoa which is outside the conservation estate.We need this bill to protect the climate. It would ban new coal mines from January 2025 to help prevent emissions leakage when coal is mined and then exported to be burnt offshore.There have been some concerns raised about the impact of the bill on Ngāi Tahu. It makes absolutely no changes to any Te Tiriti o Waitangi settlement commitments including the Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act which gives Ngāi Tahu control of all pounamu; nor does it change the rights of Māori to access customary materials such as obsidian and red and yellow ochre on conservation land. But I understand that alluvial gold mining on the West Coast can uncover pounamu boulders as the miners dig up the river terraces to find material to put through their gold screens. So by stopping new alluvial mines on conservation land it would make the excavation of pounamu more expensive for Ngāi Tahu because they would have to have their mining directed just at pounamu but it wouldn't stop Ngāi Tahu excavating and mining for pounamu.Ngāi Tahu hapu Makaawhio value aotea. It's a stone similar to pounamu it's found only in the Makaawhio River and beaches in South Westland including on public conservation land. The Makaawhio have a 40-year mining permit over the river and its headwaters and if further provision needs to be made in this bill to safeguard access to that stone then that can happen at select committee.Supporting this bill at first reading would enable the public to have a say on their conversation lands which the Department of Conservation manages on their behalf and any changes that need to be made could be made to address those issues.This bill would protect some of our greatest natural treasures: the climate our public conservation lands the habitat and ecosystems of some of the most special species in the world—species that are only found here in Aotearoa. It would prohibit new exploration prospecting and mining on the conservation estate. I commend it to the House and would welcome members' support for it. Kia ora.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."