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Gerry Brownlee - Source: Close Up -
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After all the claims and counter-claims over what the government was going to do about mining on conservation land, finally we get the information. Yes they plan to open up 7000 hectares for mining under the current rules, and yes they want to investigate other potential sites.
The trade off, they claim, is adding 12,000 hectares to the protected schedule. But Forest and Bird say that was already in the pipeline, so don't try and claim credit for it.
So where does this leave us? Has the government pulled back given the reaction or does it give them licence to push on?
Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee, and the man the
government accused of scaremongering - Forest and Bird's Kevin
Hackwell - are on Close Up.
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