"The Government's stocktake of New Zealand's mineral resources includes investigating reserves in three national parks, which means it is considering mining them, the Green Party says.
But Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee says the Greens are being hysterical and he can't see that happening.
Green's co-leader Metiria Turei said yesterday that she had official information which showed the stocktake included oil reserves in Fiordland National Park and gold and coal in Kahurangi and Paparoa parks."
Can you see the weasel words, "Can't see that happening." That actually means nothing - which just happens to balance out the worth of brownlee.
"They already know what they want and they're preparing to steal it from the public," Ms Turei said.
"Far from not wanting to mine in national parks and only being interested in 'low value' areas, the officials' advice shows they are keen to mine our most precious parks."
Mr Brownlee said: "I think New Zealanders have a right to know what's there and what the possibilities are."
He said he was confident New Zealanders would also say the conservation value of national parks was much higher than any potential mineral wealth.
The problem with this view of brownlee's is that it is not us that will decide. The overseas mining companies and their stooges will be the ones making the money - hardly anyone here except for the payoffs of course. Many will be seduced by greed but we have to take the long view. Not everything is a commodity. Not everything has a dollar value. Not everything is for sale. If we conserve what we have and reduce our needs to a sustainable level we will be making the world better for our mokopuna and their grandchildren. If we waste it all for some pieces of silver we will have shamed our ancestors and ourselves.
We all love the beauty and diversity of nature in our place. We are blessed and we need to act like it.
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