A
scrutiny hearing at Parliament devolved into a rowdy spat
with accusations of lying, cries of hypocrisy and a demand
that the minister “shush”.
Conservation Minister Tama
Potaka was interrogated over proposed law changes which
would allow up to 60
percent of conservation land to be sold off.
He
was adamant the intent was only to get rid of “bits and
bobs” of land with low conservation value.
Green Party
co-leaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson presented to
the room Forest
and Bird’s poster of the extent of land that could be under
threat.
But
Potaka wielded his own props – printed-out images of the
sort of land he believed the Department of Conservation
(DOC) should not own, like the MetService building in
Wellington.
“[It has] very little, if any,
conservation value,” he said.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
“There’s no real value,
but DOC continues to hold on to it. Actually, we should sell
that … in order to generate some money to invest in the
very biodiversity that the opposition trumpets as the most
important thing that we need to do now.”
The
back-and-forth grew feverish after Potaka alleged the former
Labour government of failing to increase conservation
funding to the level required – more than $2
billion.
“That’s blatantly untrue, minister,” Labour’s
Priyanca Radhakrishnan said, while Swarbrick raised a point
of order.
“He’s answering the question,” replied
committee chair Catherine Wedd.
Swarbrick: “But he’s
lying!”
Potaka: “Pardon? What did you say? …Okay,
okay, hang on, she’s calling me a liar.”
Davidson: “We
both are.”
National MP Grant McCallum then piped up:
“Hypocrite!”, while later in the hearing, Labour’s Rachel
Brooking raised her finger to her lips and told Potaka to
“shush”.
Once
the room settled, Potaka made it clear he had no intention
to sell off huge swathes of conservation land – just “bits
and bobs”, pointing to the poster of the MetService
building, and another of a gravel reserve surrounded by
farmland on the West Coast.
“There have been some very
scandalous accusations made, madam chair, that I completely
outrageously object to,” Potaka said.
He said it was
“spurious” to suggest he was trying to sell off 60 percent
of the estate: “That’s highly ridiculous and fantasy
land.”
Brooking sought “comfort” from Potaka that the
only land disposed of would be of low or no conservation
value.
“I’ve said that so many times,” Potaka
exclaimed. “I’ve said ‘bits and bobs!'”
The minister
repeated that significant amounts of land would not be sold,
and said anyone claiming that was in “the Olympic
championships for exaggeration”.
Potaka added there
was a long way to go yet with the law, including clarifying
disposal and transfer processes, which would play out during
select
committee.
New Zealand’s public broadcaster, providing comprehensive NZ news and current affairs, specialist audio features and documentaries.
Radio New Zealand is a Crown entity established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. Radio New Zealand News are vital elements in our programming, providing impartial news and information to New Zealanders every day. Radio New Zealand (RNZ) provides listeners with exciting and independent radio programmes in accordance with the Radio New Zealand Charter.
