Meteria Turei

Wellington, March 22 NZPA - Environmentalists and opposition parties have attacked the Government's discussion paper outlining its proposals for opening 7058 hectares of protected conservation land for mining.

The Government announced today it planned to take land in Coromandel, Great Barrier Island and parts of Paparoa National Park on the West Coast out of the protection of schedule four in the Crown Minerals Act, while adding a further 12,000ha to the schedule to mitigate that.

The plan had already been revealed by Forest and Bird, which obtained leaked Cabinet information.

The society said the adding of land to schedule four was a meaningless gesture as it referred to areas that had been already waiting for official protection since a review in 2008.

The Green Party was appalled about a proposed $4 million government subsidy for mining prospectors, and said if national parks and ecological areas were opened to mining, then anything could be mined.

Co-leader Metiria Turei said the six-week consultation process which the Government had allowed for was a "sham" and New Zealanders needed to ensure they made clear their opposition to mining in schedule four land. "That's the whole point of schedule four."

Labour's conservation spokesman David Parker said a proposal to give the energy and resources minister joint power with the conservation minister in decisions on access to conservation land would be taken by many as an erosion of conservation protection.

"The Minister of Conservation is guardian of these conservation areas on behalf of the public and ought to have (and not cede to others) political accountability for decisions that affect them," Mr Parker said.

He said allowing mining in the Coromandel would be particularly concerning to the large population of Aucklanders, who had no national parks nearby and considered Coromandel's protected areas important.

Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki spokesman Denis Tegg described the $4m prospecting subsidy as "social welfare for the multi-nationals".

"Mining companies are creaming off huge profits. They already receive large income tax concessions not available to ordinary Kiwis. They pay pitifully low royalties. We privatise our minerals by just giving them away to overseas corporations," Mr Tegg said.

Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee said that while overseas mining companies could take advantage of the proposals, a mining industry revival would lead to large amounts of money being invested here and many locals benefitting.

Business New Zealand said mineral resources belonged to all New Zealanders and the proposals could lead to a spike in New Zealand's prosperity.

State-owned enterprise Solid Energy welcomed the discussion paper, saying it gave New Zealanders an opportunity to understand the potential value of mineral resources here.

"We know that New Zealanders value our unique natural environment extremely highly," said chief executive Don Elder. "We also know that New Zealanders want good jobs and a high standard of living. Smart, well-managed use of our natural resources, combined with a conservation fund to create long-term environmental gain will allow us to have both."

The proposal includes a conservation fund based on a portion of future royalties from mining in public conservation areas.

Mr Brownlee said, in productivity terms, people working in the mining industry returned an average GDP six times greater than the national average.

He said it was estimated that minerals which could be taken out of the land proposed to be removed from schedule four was about $60 billion, but such a return depended on interest in extracting it.

Final recommendations on the Government's proposal will go to Cabinet before decisions are made in the middle of the year.