Sarah McMillan/cvnznews.com
Forest & Bird has sounded the alarm over what it calls a “hidden” clause in the Government’s Conservation Amendment Bill that could quietly dismantle long-standing protections for the Coromandel Peninsula — opening the door to mining in one of New Zealand’s most treasured landscapes.
The environmental group says the Bill would allow conservation land in the Coromandel to be sold, exchanged, or disposed of. Once that happens, the land would no longer qualify as Crown property and would lose its protection under Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, which currently prohibits mining on conservation land.
“This is either a deliberate move to throw out existing protections for the Coromandel’s wild places and green‑light mining, or it’s a serious oversight that Ministers need to fix,” said Richard Capie, Forest & Bird’s Group Manager for Conservation Advocacy and Policy. He warned that the risk isn’t spelled out in the Bill itself — it only becomes clear when cross‑referencing multiple laws.
The Coromandel, home to North Island brown kiwi and Hochstetter’s frogs, (Pictured) enjoys the same level of protection as national parks. But Forest & Bird says the proposed reforms create a “back‑door” route to remove those safeguards without public scrutiny.
The organisation argues that the Bill’s lack of transparency could set a dangerous precedent for other conservation areas. It is calling for urgent amendments to explicitly exclude the Coromandel from land disposal or exchange and to retain Schedule 4 protections regardless of ownership status.
“New Zealanders deserve to know what’s really at stake,” Capie said. “Major changes to our most protected and iconic places should never be buried in the fine print.”
Public submissions on the Bill close Thursday, 2 July.
