The Government is looking at several ways to swell DoC’s coffers. At the moment, its annual budget is about $650 million.
Conservation Minister Tama Potaka is driving a series of proposals including access charges, more forestry on DOC land, new fees for mining and higher fees for popular huts and campsites.
Environmental advocates say an overhaul is needed, but they’re nervous about what squeezing money out of public land will mean for protecting nature.
NZ Herald senior writer Derek Cheng told The Front Page the gap between DoC’s budget and what it needs is widening – making its biodiversity work and the upkeep of the visitor network fall increasingly behind.
“The whole system change is going to be a vast system overhaul, the biggest since the Conservation Act in 1987.
“That is kind of being flown under the radar a bit because what’s really at stake here is: what are the principles of conservation? Will they be changed? Will squeezing money out of public conservation land affect protecting nature and the environment?
“DoC’s already shed 130 jobs this year to meet its savings target. It’s scaled back some of its climate change work. It’s slashed some of its biodiversity programmes. It’s trying to meet the fiscal restraint and, at the same time, the gap between the money it has, which is flatlining in coming years, and the money it needs, which is billions a year, to be frank, is widening and widening,” he said.
Potaka has called the proposals the biggest shake-up in decades, and environmental advocates agree that the system needs an overhaul.
He wants DoC to be financially sustainable by 2026, but the abyss between the amount of money it has and what it needs is growing wider, exacerbated by hefty bills following extreme weather events.
Cheng said that probably won’t be happening.
“The car park fees, for example, that trial is not going to start until the summer of 2025/26. Any access fee to any place is going to require a legislative change.
“So, it’s going to take some time to build up those revenue sources. One of his cabinet papers also talks about if all of the proposals were implemented, it would still only bring in up to $200m a year and a large chunk of that is just from the international visitor levy.
“That’s not to say DoC wouldn’t be super stoked with an extra $200m a year. Of course, they would be and they would be able to do a lot more with that.
“But, they’d still be really short of where it wants to be in terms of the money it needs to help the 94% of reptile species, 82% of bird species that are threatened with extinction, all of the visitor network assets that are depreciating and just being neglected,” Cheng said.
Cheng said Forest and Bird has told him that in general, Kiwis love nature and they value it.
“Doc recently said that conservation-related tourism is worth about $4b a year. Yet the Crown only puts just over half a million dollars a year into DoC.
“Does that make sense? We know it’s financially hard at the moment. The economy’s really struggling. Departments are told to cut jobs, trim fat, and cut the back office. But, in terms of how much money they give to DoC, does it reflect how Kiwis feel about nature?”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about what’s being proposed and how it might affect you.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
