Media release
For immediate use:

Banks should support the whole environment

Auckland City Councillor for the Hauraki Gulf Islands Denise Roche today welcomed Auckland Mayor John Banks opposition to any mining on Great Barrier Island, but says that opposition should be extended to all mining proposals for all national parks.

“The national parks mining proposal is reprehensible, wherever it might be. We must stop it going ahead on Great Barrier. And we must also support the efforts of other communities – in Northland, the Coromandel, the West Coast, and Stewart island – to prevent mining in their areas.

“We cannot be against it in our backyard, but ambivalent or support it in other areas. That would be gross nimbyism and hypocritical. Mining in any of these outstanding landscapes has the potential to wreck ecosystems and cause wide spead environmental destruction. We will only stop the government's mad-cap idea if all the targeted communities co-ordinate efforts to oppose the move.

“Different councils will have different regulations. We need to work together to ensure that we share information and ideas. I don’t want to see any mining on Great Barrier. But neither do I want to see mining in the Coromandel, or Rakiura, or any national park.

“As a big council, Auckland has resources – legal, policy, etc – which could assist smaller councils. If we can stop the mining on Great Barrier, we need to show other councils what they can do to protect their beautiful environments.

“I call on Mayor Banks, the Auckland City Council - and the rest of the councils in New Zealand - to oppose this mining proposal,on Great Barrier and all the other targeted regions.”

ENDS

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