Labour refusing to vote for Green MP Eugenie Sage’s Bill to stop mining on conservation land at First Reading is very disappointing but they should support the Watchdog petition of 11,000 signatures for a moratorium while issues are resolved.
Today Watchdog presented to the Environment Select Committee in support of our petition for a mining moratorium and it was apparent that no consideration has been given to this option. It was heartening that the Select Committee has now asked officials to look into the issues and any legal barriers to a moratorium.
“This is urgent, because we learned today that 509 new access agreements for mining are waiting to be processed by DOC.“
During the debate in the House last night, the Labour Party speeches on Sage’s mining ban Bill stated that while the ‘support the intent’ they would not support it to the Select Committee where at least people could have their say and issues around pounamu could have been addressed. Instead they have indicated they would vote against their own long held policy that new mining activity should be banned on DOC land.
Labour go into this 2023 election with a shameful record on conservation as we face new applications for mines on conservation land all over the country (not to mention the lack of support for protecting the seabed, another protection Bill they recently voted down), but they could redeem themselves by implementing our petition call for a moratorium before the election.
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