A New Bill Could See 60% of Public Conservation Land Available for Exchange or Disposal. “There’s No Real Value,” Says The Minister of Conservation…

The Conservation Amendment Bill could see 60% of our public conservation land up for grabs. “It’s just bits and bobs,” says the the Minister of Conservation. “It seems almost unbelievable,” says Forest & Bird. “It’s the biggest attack on conservation land in New Zealand’s history,” says Greenpeace. Here’s what’s happened, and what you can do…

It’s a bill that slipped quietly through its first reading in Parliament, but one that could have far reaching consequences for all New Zealanders, and our future generations.

That bill is the Conservation Amendment Bill. A bill that potentially sees up to 60% of our public conservation land available for exchange or disposal. And yes, you read that correctly – 60%, a staggering five million hectares of public conservation land.

It was introduced to Parliament on May 7 by the Minister of Conservation, Tama Potaka, who says he has no intention to sell of large areas of conservation land – just “bits and bobs”.

“[It has] very little, if any, conservation value,” he told Parliament yesterday. “There’s no real value, but DOC continues to hold on to it. Actually, we should see that… in order to generate some money to invest in the very biodiversity that the opposition trumpets as the most important thing that we need to do now.”

But – not surprisingly – the bill has met serious opposition in NZ.

A quick Capsule poll found that 96% of respondents oppose the bill (2% responded they “didn’t know”, and 2% said it “sounded okay” to them).

Greenpeace has called the bill “the biggest attack on conservation land in New Zealand’s history.” This week they said, “it is the darkest and most critical moment in the fight to protect Aotearoa from destructive mining.”

Earlier this week, Forest & Bird raised the important issue of what this could potentially mean for mining in the Coromandel. A technicality based on niche land classifications would mean that the new bill, in its current state, would open up nearly half of the Coromandel to mining. Yesterday, Tama Potaka told Newsroom he “will see if the bill’s wording needs changing to close the loophole”.

Yesterday, Forest & Bird released a series of maps that showed exactly what could be up for grabs, across the motu.

These maps show the conservation land at risk of economic development in orange and areas at risk of both economic development and exchange or disposal in red.

“These maps show the scale of what’s at stake,” says Richard Capie, Forest & Bird’s Group Manager for Conservation Advocacy and Policy. “We wanted to be very clear, because it seems almost unbelievable. Your local reserve, your favourite holiday spot, beaches, forests, and iconic landscapes – they could be at risk of being sold.”

Under current legislation it is only possible to sell some categories of conservation land if it has no, or very low, conservation value. The Bill would widen that and make the test much weaker, essentially only requiring Ministers keep land that is important to threatened species or ecosystems, or if the habitat is one of the best examples of its type in that ecological region. Foreshore, and some land subject to Treaty claims and settlements, would also still be protected from sale.

“Allowing even parts of these places to be sold or exchanged is a major shift,” says Mr Capie. “The Bill isn’t just about modernisation, it’s also opening the door to privatisation.  

“New Zealanders take pride in protecting public conservation land, these are the mountains, wild rivers, and forests we value and explore.

“In a climate and biodiversity crisis, with our special habitats and unique wildlife under pressure, we should be strengthening protections and ensuring conservation land is safeguarded for future generations.”

So, What Can We Do About It?

If you’re thinking, gah, ‘that’s terrible, but what can I really do about it?’

The answer is plenty – and it’s really easy to do.

The best way to take action is to enter a submission – which we have until July 2 to complete. We KNOW this works, because we only have to look at what happened with the Treaty Principles Bill. Over a couple of weeks in January 2025 around 300,000 of us made written submissions – the most received in history, in fact, it was almost triple the feedback received on any single piece of legislation in our country’s history. When we share our voices, we make change.

This is a way we can have our voices heard. Submissions are able to be made here

If you’re not too sure how to do it – Forest & Bird have detailed information and explainers about the bill itself and how to make a submission here