12 June 2019

The summary of submissions following consultation on improving the Crown’s management of its pastoral land in the South Island high county has been published today by Land Information New Zealand.

In total 3,248 individuals and organisations had their say on the Government’s proposals for enduring stewardship of Crown pastoral land, following an eight-week public consultation process.

“We’ve heard from Crown pastoral leaseholders, their families and employees, iwi, councils, environment and recreation advocacy groups, industry and the public,” says Jamie Kerr, Deputy Chief Executive Policy and Overseas Investment Office.

“Consistent across all these submissions is a focus on the importance of this land and its iconic environmental, cultural and economic values.”

LINZ received submissions from 32 organisations, and 3,216 individuals; 2,739 of which made use of form submissions provided by Forest & Bird and Greenpeace New Zealand. Approximately 100 submitters also endorsed the submission from the High Country Accord.

“LINZ would like to thank those groups such as the High Country Accord, Forest & Bird, Federated Farmers, and Greenpeace New Zealand who helped to coordinate submissions and ensure that affected and interested parties have been engaged in the process” adds Mr Kerr.

“We appreciate the number of people who attended our consultation meetings, particularly leaseholders who travelled long distances to hear directly about the proposals.

“We would also like to acknowledge Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu for engaging with us throughout this process and helping us to understand what a taonga the high country is to Māori.”

A number of overarching themes came through the feedback, such as the importance of Crown pastoral land, the importance of relationships, the role of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, property rights and the pastoral lease contract, and public involvement in the system.

There was broad support for the proposals outlined in the discussion document ‘Enduring stewardship of Crown pastoral land’.Details of the feedback on all seven proposals is contained in the summary of submissions.

“The consultation has started some really productive conversations with a range of people, that will not only inform legislative change, but LINZ’s operational practices too,” concludes Mr Kerr.

LINZ is carefully considering the full range of views put forward during consultation to inform its advice to Government on potential changes to the Crown pastoral land regulatory system and governing legislation.

That advice will be provided to Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage, to report back to the Government on the results of the consultation process.

Notes to Editors

The full summary of submissions can be found on the Land Information New Zealand here.

Submissions from organisations have also been uploaded to this page, alongside a number of individual submissions. The remaining submissions will be published at a later date.

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