The same week 13,500 people queued to book the Milford Track, parliament debated how to manage New Zealand’s most popular natural places – and who pays, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.
To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.
The great outdoors under pressure
On Wednesday morning, 13,500 people queued online for a spot on the Milford Track – more than the same day last year, reports the Christchurch Star. The walk was again all but sold out within half an hour of bookings opening, an annual ritual that speaks to the extraordinary popularity of – and pressure on – New Zealand’s most beloved natural places.
It was well-timed context for a bill that had passed its first reading in parliament the day before. The Conservation Amendment Bill – described by conservation minister Tama Potaka as the most significant reform to conservation law in 40 years – would, among other things, enable international visitors to be charged to enter sites like the Milford Sound, a short drive from the place those 13,500 people had been trying to book. As RNZ’s Russell Palmer reports, the bill passed through parliament with 68 votes to 54, the coalition in support and opposition parties opposed.
Charging international visitors
The access charge provisions are the headline measure, as The Southland Times’ Rachael Kelly reports. Four sites have been selected as having the highest international visitor revenue potential – Piopiotahi/Milford Sound, Aoraki/Mount Cook, Mautohe Cathedral Cove and the Tongariro Alpine Crossing – with foreigners making up around 80% of tourists at these spots. Revenue would be ringfenced for conservation, with charges likely set between $20 and $50 depending on location; the government’s midpoint revenue estimate is $62 million annually.
New Zealanders will be exempt, though the bill includes a commitment to revisit the regulations – including exemptions – every five years. Implementation of fees is expected no earlier than summer 2027, RNZ’s Nik Dirga reported last year.
The land disposal provisions
The more contested element is the bill’s expansion of the government’s ability to exchange or dispose of public conservation land. Currently disposals are restricted to land with “no or very low” conservation value; the bill removes that test for exchanges, requiring only that any land received in return has higher conservation value. Labour’s conservation spokesperson Priyanca Radhakrishnan warns this would open 60% of the estate to potential sale, including areas home to at-risk species.
Forest & Bird’s Richard Capie is equally blunt: “Once public conservation land is gone, it’s gone forever. These are decisions future generations can’t undo.” Potaka counters that the new rules mean land with the highest conservation value, around 40% of the estate, will be off limits, and the flexibility is designed for situations where DOC holds land like “a section in the middle of houses in Reefton”. A majority of respondents in last year’s public consultation opposed removing the conservation value test.
Treaty concerns
There are also warnings that the bill will also have a serious impact on Treaty settlements. The Press’s Maxine Jacobs reports on concerns among Ngāi Tahu, whose kaiwhakahaere (chair) Justin Tipa says he has warned Potaka for months that the reforms would potentially force the renegotiation of the iwi’s “full and final” settlement. The Ngāi Tahu rohe covers most of the South Island and two-thirds of the country’s conservation estate. The iwi took the Crown to the High Court over the proposed changes, but the court has suspended the challenge until after the law is enacted.
Te Pāti Māori’s Rawiri Waititi has described the bill as part of the coalition’s “ram raid” on conservation. As RNZ’s Palmer notes, the first reading came the same day the government announced it would override the Supreme Court to ban climate liability lawsuits, with parliament turning next to legislation disestablishing the Ministry for the Environment.
