Conservation Amendment Bill Submission Guide

This is a handy guide to help you make your submission on the Conservation Amendment Bill before the deadline: midday on 13 July. It covers what the Bill is, why you should make a submission, and how to do it.

IMPORTANT: the last day for submissions is July 13th! Make sure you make your voice heard!

How to make your submission on the Conservation Amendment Bill

If you want to get straight to it, you can use our quick submission generator tool or head directly to Parliament’s website and make a submission there. Whatever you choose, make sure you clearly state:

I oppose this Bill. It must be rejected in full.

What is the Conservation Amendment Bill?

The Conservation Amendment Bill is essentially a ram raid on public conservation land.

You might have seen the Government make an announcement that they’ll remove the parts making it easier to put a staggering five million hectares – around 60% of all conservation land in Aotearoa at risk of being sold off. But even if that happens, and there is no guarantee it will – from start to finish the Conservation Amendment Bill is rotten to its core.

Here are the five worst things they are proposing:

• Make it easier to sell off around five million hectares of public conservation land — up to 60% of the conservation estate by:
  • Massively expanding the types of conservation land that can be sold and
  • Removing the requirement that land must be of “no or very low” conservation value before it can be sold and replacing it with a much weaker test
    
• Change the purpose architecture of the whole Conservation Act and DOC so that it is no longer about conservation and and protection of public lands but about commercial exploitation of them “to the greatest extent practicable”
  
• Give the Minister power to, by decree, establish commercial exploitation zones (they are called “visitor amenity areas” in the Bill) pretty much anywhere on the Conservation estate, including inside National parks. The bill gives a list of the kinds of things allowed in these zones and it includes: accommodation, restaurants, shops , transportation, the list goes on. Essentially, it paves the way for the Government to our National Parks into theme parks.
  
• Take a wrecking ball to the concessions (commercial permissions) framework so that it becomes easier for mining companies to mine the conservation estate and for wealthy developers to pave paradise. 
  
• Remove vital checks and balances on the Government, concentrating power with the Minister and taking it away from the independent Conservation Authority, and reducing public input over how public lands are managed.

This is the biggest attack on public conservation land since it was created. It is the darkest and most critical moment in this Government’s war on nature and the fight to protect Aotearoa from destructive mining. Because now the Coalition Government is coming for public conservation land. Now is the time to speak up and stop them.

Once our wild places are carved up, blasted apart, and mined, we can’t get them back.

Why should you bother submitting on the Conservation Amendment Bill?

Because public opposition works.

Fifteen years ago, New Zealanders stopped the last National Government’s attempt to open high-value Schedule 4 conservation land to mining. Tens of thousands of people signed petitions, made submissions and marched in the streets. Eventually, we forced the Government to back down.

Submissions are a powerful way we can show decision-makers the scale of public opposition to this Bill. Every submission helps build pressure. Every submission sends a message that public conservation land should remain protected and in public hands for future generations.

The Government wants to hear from New Zealanders. Let’s make sure they do.

Three easy ways to make your Conservation Amendment Bill submission now

1. Use our quick submission generator

Just follow the prompts and you’ll be done in a few minutes.

2. Submit directly through Parliament’s website

Fill out the required contact details and include a simple statement such as:

I oppose the Conservation Amendment Bill and urge the Government to withdraw it. Public conservation land should be protected, not sold off or opened up to increased commercial exploitation.

Submit via the Parliament website here.

3. Make a longer submission

If you’d like to write something more detailed, we’ve included some key points below that you can use in your submission.

Key statements you could include in your submission

• I oppose the Conservation Amendment Bill. It should be rejected in its entirety.
• Public conservation land should be protected for nature and for future generations.I oppose it being sold off or opened up to greater private commercial exploitation.
• The Department of Conservation’s role and the purpose of the Conservation Act must remain as it is. They should be there to protect nature, not to enable private commercial exploitation of public land.
• I oppose the overhaul to the concessions framework. Businesses already successfully operate on conservation land and the existing concession framework helps ensure they do so with minimal damage. There is no justification for the changes proposed.
• I oppose the new “visitor amenity areas” proposals. Conservation land should be protected for nature to thrive, not cleared and paved over to make way for hotels, gondolas and other inappropriate private commercial infrastructure on public land.
• Conservation land exists to be a safe haven for wildlife that is already fighting for survival in New Zealand. It is where generations of New Zealanders have gone hunting, tramping, kayaking, fishing, swimming and camping. Public conservation land must remain in public hands and be protected from commercial exploitation.
• Decisions about public conservation land should involve strong public oversight and participation. Power should not be concentrated in the hands of a single Minister or the Government of the day.
• Public conservation land should remain protected for nature to thrive and for future generations to enjoy.
• Once native forests are cleared, landscapes dug up and pristine rivers polluted with acid mine drainage, those losses cannot be reversed. I reject all proposals to sell off and mine public conservation land.

Learn more about the Conservation Amendment Bill

• Greenpeace’s Conservation Amendment Bill explainer.
• The Conservation Amendment Bill itself.

Public conservation land has been protected by generations of New Zealanders who stood up and defended it. Now it’s our turn.

Make your submission and tell the Government: Hands off our conservation land.