Ours Not Mines co-founder Morgan Donoghue is disgusted by the Government's draft minerals plan revealed this week.

“This plan lacks any thought on how to drive New Zealand forward. Giving away rare minerals owned by every New Zealander for a measly return of 2.1% to the crown last year is simply ludicrous. To get up there and trumpet this as what success looks like is either naive, stupid, or just evil. It shows the New Zealand economics curriculum failed Shane Jones and his party when they went to school.”

"If the government really thought minerals were the best way for them to get money back into their landlord mates' pockets, why haven’t they explored upping the royalty rate? Rather than double production and destroy the conservation estate, why not look at getting a proper return for minerals that New Zealand own?

“It is completely baffling that if the government truly believed minerals were the way to make New Zealand prosperous, why are they happy for 97.9% of the money to disappear off shore? Why not look at putting a real royalty on our minerals? Has the minister already promised his mining mates the royalties will stay low?”

“The reality is when mines fail - and it doesn't take much for it to go pear shaped - the consequences are catastrophic. In New Zealand you can look at the Tui Mine in Te Aroha where the miners ran away from their obligations of fixing the environment and the taxpayer had to pay $21.7M to clean it up. Interestingly that is the same amount that New Zealand made from mineral royalties last year. If you look offshore, you can see the tragic loss of life in Brazil at the Brumadinho dam disaster where 270 people lost their lives in 2019.

"This whole charade makes us question the economic integrity of Mr Jones' theories and everyone who wants their children and grandchildren to have beautiful Aotearoa to grow up in should be very concerned that the mining industry seems to have huge influence over him and the proposed fast track legislation.

"Both of Ours Not Mines' directors and co-founders have founded and run successful businesses that employ New Zealanders with a very small environmental impact. I have worked for some of the biggest companies in the world at a senior level. This includes roles in the UK, USA, Australia, and New Zealand over the last 20 years. I have overseen deals worth hundreds of millions for Telecommunications companies and investment banks where I was selected to be on the deal committee.

"In the last five years the company I am co-founder of has invested tens of millions of dollars in the New Zealand economy and created more than fifty jobs using engineers to make music software. All of these are sustainable and make a lot more sense than risking environmental destruction through ripping open our beautiful land. Expanding mining in 2024 is an absurd embarrassment. Choosing to do it is choosing to hurt our land, and our generations to come.”

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