A protest rally against the Government's proposals for mining on conservation land is due to take place outside Parliament at lunchtime today.Forest and Bird, the most vociferous opponent of the proposals, is calling it the "too precious to mine"
A protest rally against the Government's proposals for mining on conservation land is due to take place outside Parliament at lunchtime today.
Forest and Bird, the most vociferous opponent of the proposals, is calling it the "too precious to mine" rally and the aim is to persuade the Government to give up its plan to remove areas of conservation land from the protection of schedule four of the Crown Minerals Act.
The schedule covers the most pristine and valuable conservation land and protects it from mining. The proposals, released last week, are for areas of Great Barrier Island, the Coromandel and Paparoa National Park to be released so they can be prospected for valuable minerals.
They have provoked intense debate, and Prime Minister John Key said yesterday the Government was going to have to prove three things to get the majority of New Zealanders to support the proposals.
"There are three tests that have to be met...we need to demonstrate there will be increased investment and jobs, we need to prove that the economic benefits will largely stay in New Zealand, and we need to prove we can sustainably mine the areas we are promoting," he said at his post-cabinet press conference.
"I think the bulk of New Zealanders will, in broad terms, apply those three tests. If there's enough in it for New Zealand, if we make enough money out of it and if we can do it in an environmentally sustainable way. I think the bulk of New Zealanders will support it."
Mr Key said it was "a possibility" that the Government would drop the proposals but he believed there was a case for expanded mining activity.
He said it was possible mining companies wouldn't be interested anyway, because they would only go ahead if they thought it was economically viable and they were going to make money.
"But it's my sense that given the mineral wealth of New Zealand, and if those opportunities are there, they will take them," he said.
