The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s use of urgency to rewrite the Wildlife Act–without consultation, without an impact statement, and in direct response to a court ruling in favour of protecting wildlife.

“The Government is rushing legislation through Parliament to make it easier to kill kiwi and other precious wildlife," says Green Party co-leader and Conservation spokesperson, Marama Davidson.

“Our native taonga should be treasured. They connect us to our whenua and whakapapa, and form a critical component of our national identity.

“This law change comes directly off the back of a court ruling that found it was unlawful for the Department of Conservation (DOC) to permit developers to kill protected species.

“Rather than respecting that ruling, and learning from it, the Government is rewriting the Act to make that killing legal. It’s cynical, calculated, and utterly, utterly devastating.

“For the Minister of Conservation to say only days ago that nature is ‘part of our national identity, economy and way of life,’ then allow this legislation to bulldoze through the House is a disgrace.

“You can’t claim to value our biodiversity while forcing through law changes to make it easier to destroy it. This isn’t about protecting biodiversity—it’s about protecting profit and feeding corporate greed.

“When nature is only valued for its economic benefit, the outcome is inevitable: destruction. This Government has made it clear that when forced to choose between the interests of industry or the interests of the law, the public, and the environment, it will always choose the bulldozer.

“Our Green Budget will outline our bold vision for an Aotearoa that works with nature, not against it,” says Marama Davidson.

NOTES

• In the Mt Messenger case, the judge ruled that the permit granted by DOC, which allowed the death of rare kiwi, bats and frogs, was “inconsistent with the primary purpose of wildlife protection in the Wildlife Act.”
• In response, the Government’s bill:

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