Has the Minister received advice indicating Conservation Boards opposed any aspect of the proposed conservation reforms; if so, what were those concerns?

Answer

The Department of Conservation engaged with conservation boards during development of the Conservation Amendment Bill, including during public consultation from November 2024 to February 2025. Conservation boards provided submissions on the discussion documents. The Department’s analysis of submissions informed policy decisions for the Bill. The summary of submissions can be found here - https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/getting-involved/consultations/2024/modernising-conservation-management/summary-of-submissions-modernising-conservation-land-management.pdf Conservation boards generally raised concerns around the removal of democratic processes, the centralisation of power and loss of local input through their submissions. Specifically, conservation board submissions opposed enabling greater flexibility for land exchange or disposal, ministerial approval of policies and plans, removing the requirement for the NZCA to recommend new amenities areas, and the focus of the National Conservation Policy Statement and areas plans on rules and guidance for concessions.