2. Question No. 2—ConservationHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister of ConservationQuestion No. 2—Conservation2. Hon EUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister of Conservation: What if any options for protecting public conservation land from mining is she considering?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment) on behalf of the Minister of Conservation: On behalf of the Minister our most valuable public conservation land is already protected from mining. Conservation lands listed in Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act include national parks nature reserves scientific reserves wilderness areas and wildlife sanctuaries. This prevents access from being granted to mine Crown-owned minerals on those land classifications and represents about 50 percent of all public conservation land by area. Additionally the Government is undertaking significant work to reclassify a further 30 percent of conservation land via the stewardship land review. This covers 2.5 million hectares of stewardship land and that is being considered for further protection. Progress is being made and the Minister of Conservation will soon be considering final recommendations on the first phase of this process which covers the West Coast with that information due to the Minister by the end of this year.Hon Eugenie Sage: Would adding public conservation land to Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act as my member's bill does achieve the Government's promise in the 2017 Speech from the Throne that there be no new mines on conservation land?Hon DAVID PARKER: The Government remains committed to no new mines on conservation land. The member's bill though goes a lot further than that and also effectively prohibits mining on private land. It would also cut across more than four Treaty settlements including the likes of mining pounamu which does occur on conservation land.Hon Eugenie Sage: Isn't it true that the reclassification process will make a very limited contribution to protecting conservation land from mining because only 12 percent of the stewardship land on the West Coast is recommended for status such as national park where it would be safe from mining?Hon DAVID PARKER: No assessment can be made of that because the department is still considering the 6000 submissions that were received which will inform the advice that is due to the Minister before the end of the year.Hon Eugenie Sage: Have large mines on conservation land such as the former Globe Progress mine near Reefton and the Escarpment mine on the Denniston Plateau harmed the conservation values which that land was set aside to protect?Hon DAVID PARKER: Well it depends on the project but there can be no doubt that the extensive open-cast coal mining on conservation land did cause environmental damage.Hon Eugenie Sage: Does the Department of Conservation's experience monitoring 12 former mining sites on public conservation land and 12 current mining sites for potential ongoing pollution as she noted in answers to written questions suggest that reform is needed to limit mining activities which cause pollution on conservation land?Hon DAVID PARKER: Well reform is under way including work that's being done by the Minister of Energy and Resources in respect of the Crown Minerals Act. In respect of the monitoring of existing alluvial gold operations those costs are recovered from the miners.Hon Eugenie Sage: For how much longer will members of the public who've recently stood with a no mining" banner on conservation land in Coromandel on the Denniston Plateau and in Mount Richmond Forest Park—all areas subject to mineral permits—have to keep reminding her Government of the 2017 promise of no new mines on conservation land?Hon DAVID PARKER: I've already explained that integral to achieving that problem is the reclassification of stewardship land.SPEAKER: Helen White.Helen White: My question is to—SPEAKER: Oh sorry I thought you had a supplementary."