November 17

The NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party is appalled that DoC wants to charge New Zealanders parking and any other access fees to visit National Parks and other conservation land.

“I am disgusted they would even contemplate it,” said Alan Simmons, president of the NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party. “This is public land and it’s ridiculous such an idea would be considered by public service bureaucrats.”

Alan Simmons was also critical of the Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka for going along with the idea.

“If he had empathy with the outdoors and the Kiwi outdoor lifestyle, he would have squashed the idea before it ever got to this stage,” said Simmons.

The Department of Conservation has released two documents for public consultation on "modernising" conservation, seeking feedback on questions like who should pay visitor fees, where, and what that money should go towards.

The priorities included fixing concession prices, generating new revenue, targeting investment into "high-value conservation outcomes and strengthening relationships with iwi.

Alan Simmons is unimpressed to the point of anger. One of the key objectives of conservation is to facilitate access to the outdoors and nature, not block our access with parking fees or other restrictions.

"They are proposing to spend $3.5 million on a very expensive trial of parking fees, using funds controversially collected from international visitors for improving NZ infrastructure." said Alan Simmons. "The very idea that visitors levies are being allocated to fund more red tape so DOC can charge us all access fees, defies belief, and makes a complete mockery of ACT's promises to reduce bureaucracy and red tape."

Our other concern is the slippery slope to privatisation of our great New Zealand Outdoors if the right to free access is eroded.

The NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party is concerned that the sum allocated for this expensive trial for conservation parking is completely disproportionate to any possible benefit, and that it indicates an agenda to privatise our outdoors resources."

The John Key national government gave the Urewera National Park to a Maori tribe without asking the owners - the New Zealand public,” he said. Since then public access to the Ureweras has been severely restricted and many tramping huts have been destroyed.

Alan Simmons said it must be remembered that the "He Puapua" agenda crafted by Labour included handing New Zealand's conservation estate to Maori.

“That idea is dead, but certainly not buried,” he said. “If that happens, you can be quite sure we'll all be charged an access fee.”

Leader of the NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party Sue Grey said "It's not acceptable for DoC to assert control over public resources in ways that undermine public access or that disconnect New Zeaalnders from the outdoors and nature. We cannot understand how they could possible justify using visitor infrastructure levies to fund trials on charging for public access."

The Outdoors and Freedom Party is determined to put a stake in the ground and require full transparency of the full agenda so we can all engage in a public discussion about the future of our conservation law. Access to the outdoors is our heritage, and protecting access to all our treasured species is important. Many New Zealanders are concerned about conservation dogma that promotes ideology and poison over balance and respect for nature. The NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party have asked under the OIA for all the analysis and assumptions relied on by DoC, and is waiting to receive and analyse this information.

"We call on all Kiwis who love and enjoy the outdoors to join with us to challenge the Department of Conservation.” said Alan Simmons whose life has been in the outdoors and who is author of trout fishing and hunting books, as well as co-authoring "Freedom Village" with Sue Grey. "Whether your interests are tramping, photography, fishing, hunting or any other outdoors activity you need to be very concerned about what DoC is proposing."

"There are always alternative solutions" said Sue Grey. "If the Department of Conservation and its Minister are seeking more revenue to fund the bureaucracy, a searching scrutiny should be made of the department’s workings."

“DoC’s 1080 programme flies in the face of scientific studies. 1080 poison operations typically cost millions of dollars and achieve nothing except poisoning the ecosystem with a loss of insect, bird and animal life.”

The endangered and declining status of the kea is a prime example. Once kea were in plague proportions with a bounty on their head.

“Now since DoC was formed and embarked on its topdressing of the public’s lands with deadly 1080 poison, kea numbers have plummeted. Keas were for decades abundant and co-existing with stoats and rats for a couple of centuries. Why has the kea population crashed in the last twenty years?”

“Minister Potaka needs to pay more attention to the department he’s meant to be in charge of. Lets forget charging the public to enter our own property and lets look instead at the mismanagement of the ecosystem and wildlife destruction DoC is guilty of,” Simmons said.

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