Don Brash announces high country privatisation agenda
National Party leader Dr Don Brash’s speech at Molesworth today indicates an agenda to privatise the high country for
the privileged few instead of creating conservation parks for all New Zealanders.
“Don Brash appears to have been poorly advised with his misplaced accusations of a Government land grab, un-merited
criticism of the Department of Conservation and promotion of whole property covenants,” Forest and Bird’s Conservation
Manager Kevin Hackwell said today.
“How can Dr Brash accuse the Government of a land grab, when the Government already owns the land?” Mr Hackwell asked.
“The real land grab is the proposal by some high country lessees to privatise the entire high country. Dr Brash appeared
to be supporting this proposal in today’s speech to a Federated Farmers conference at the publicly-owned Molesworth
Station.”
“It’s ironic that Dr Brash’s speech promoting increased privatisation of the high country occurred at a high county
station, the Molesworth, where the private sector failed and the state had to take over.”
“National still hasn’t satisfactorily explained why state house tenants should pay more in rent to the Crown than the
majority of high country leaseholders, including Queen Street farmers and international pop stars? We were hoping
today’s speech would do that,” Mr Hackwell said.
“Forest and Bird does share Don Brash’s concerns about inflated prices for high country leases. Some lessees are making
massive capital gains from selling leases to Crown owned land. This is making conservation purchases very expensive,
like the $10 million paid for land to create the Ahuriri Conservation Park,” he said.
“Forest and Bird also shares Dr Brash’s concerns about the capacity of the Department of Conservation to save threatened
species, many of which are indigenous to the high country. The Department needs a funding boost and we look forward to
seeing Dr Brash’s support for this,” he said.
“However, Dr Brash’s bagging of the Department was way out of line. At Korowai-Torlesse Conservation Park DOC has
controlled weeds that spread while the land was farmed. When Clent Hills was handed to DOC, the first thing the
Department did was to remove the wilding pines that the lessee had allowed to spread,” he said.