Court Simon; O'Connor GregSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I agree with the Hon Eugenie Sage that our natural environment is important and that the Department of Conservation (DOC) has an important role in protecting our very special places but the Department of Conservation are not doing a good job at that and they've been given an impossible task. In the 1980s the Department of Conservation was allocated a whole lot of public land that came from State-owned enterprises like the railways like the Department of Lands and Survey and Government farming businesses and that was dumped in the DOC bucket and called stewardship land" on the intention that that land be then made available for other economic and social benefits. But it never was. From the 1980s till the 2023s DOC and successive Governments have done nothing to make that land available for the maximum the most efficient environmental and economic and social benefits.That land makes up 30 percent of the DOC estate or 9 percent of New Zealand's total land area. That is not the land that I'm concerned about. That is not the land that is in our national parks. That is public land that DOC administers that's called stewardship land. That land is used for farming on long-term leases it is quarried and resources are made available and it is mined by responsible and respectful operators who restore the land in a way that New Zealanders would expect it to be restored—in fact to a much higher standard if you were to look at mining operations like say OceanaGold Globe Progress Mine in Reefton which saved the tree stumps from the former forest harvesting decades before saved them carried out the mining restored the land and brought the tree stumps back into the restoration as a habitat for creepy crawlies. I've been to that site and I've seen how the private sector how mining companies can restore nature and restore biodiversity in a way that DOC with its limited budget with one or two hands tied behind its back never could.So I agree with the Hon Eugenie Sage that there is a problem where the Department of Conservation is not upholding its responsibilities to New Zealanders and in fact to our global effort to maintain and enhance biodiversity. So why do people mine on conservation land? Well that's because economically viable deposits occur on some of this land public land under the control of DOC because of plate tectonics because of magma rising from deep in the Earth's crust that brings valuable minerals from deep underground and then leaves them as deposits near the surface. Now DOC the honourable member the Government can't choose where those deposits of gold and platinum and silver and rare earth elements that go into things like this laptop or everyone's cellphone or your TV or your Tesla—you can't choose where these are placed because they have been left there as a result of natural processes. That's why it's important in New Zealand we continue to have access to these resources and not restrict them on a philosophical basis or on an ideological basis.And we need to respect the fact that there are businesses which are already carrying out resource development activities and which can put the environment back in a better state than they found it because that's what people do. We discover an environment we discover building materials and natural resources we utilise them and we want to make our world a better place. And if that involves recovering resources that we can all benefit from and that create wealth through the resource development through the jobs that are created—high-paying jobs particularly in places like the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand; Taranaki; of course in Northland; and more recently around Rotorua and the Taupō volcanic zone where lithium that's used in electric vehicle batteries has been discovered. We should be able to recover those resources and be confident that New Zealand engineers and scientists can put the earth back can restore nature better than they found it.So ACT won't be supporting this bill. We support the member's intent to restore nature; to restore enhance and protect biodiversity wherever we find it. Thank you Mr Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This debate is interrupted and set down for resumption next sitting day. The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow. Have a good evening.Debate interrupted.The House adjourned at 9.58 p.m."