It’s one thing for a Member’s Bill to be picked from the Biscuit Tin, and another thing altogether for the bill to make it into law.
If the bill’s in the name of a non-government MP, the chances of passing a first reading are relatively dim. But you have to be in to win. So Green MP Eugenie Sage was reasonably upbeat that her Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill recently got pulled from the ballot.
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Green Party MP Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
“I’m over the moon that this came through in the Biscuit Tin ballot, because I’ve been here eleven years and not had a bill picked from the Biscuit Tin before,” she said. Her Bill would ban any new exploration, prospecting and mining activity on conservation lands and water.
“Coming so soon after Debbie Ngarewa-Packer’s bill on seabed mining (Prohibition on Seabed Mining Legislation Amendment Bill) it's really good that the house is actually going to consider both of these issues.”
Sage, who was Minister of Conservation and Land Information in the previous term, said her Bill did what she thought the public expect of conservation land.
“They expect to be a place where nature is protected, where our indigenous plants and wildlife control, where people can go to enjoy nature . At the moment mining has a much easier run than any other commercial activity like tourism operations, because National changed the law back in 2013 and we want to restore conservation land as a place when nature is pre-eminent.
“Conservation lands are about a third of the land area of Aotearoa, but the Crown Minerals Act at the moment only protects areas like National Parks, nature reserves from mining. So about a third of the conservation estate is open to mining.
“Mining on conservation land has been a long-standing issue. In 2010 when Gerry Brownlee was minister of energy and National was proposing to open up national parks for mining, tens of thousands of people marched down Queen Street, and so going right back then people want conservation land protected.
“We've just seen 15,000 people sign an Open Letter to government seeking protection and conservation land from mining, so my experience as minister last term was recognising that this has been a long held desire going back to 2010 and earlier.”
Mount Robert. The Nelson Lakes National Park is a popular landscape for filmmakers, and the Department of Conservation in the top of the South Island/Te Tau Ihu is urging the film and television industry to brush up on its cultural awareness when applying to film on Crown land. Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal
She said the gravel industry should rest assured that its activities weren’t being covered by the Bill.
The Bill could have its first reading next month. Aside from the votes of ten Greens MP, it’s unclear who will support the Bill, with Labour yet to indicate its position, according to Sage.
“I hope the bill gets to select committee so the public can have their say about whether mining should occur on public protected land which is where nature is expected to be dominant.”