The backlash Minister Tama Potaka faced for his plan to sell conservation land is a real problem for the Government, and that is why he had to u-turn it the way Shane Jones was forced to over the Fisheries Amendment Bill.
When Minister Potaka told Kiwis that DoC had ‘bibs and bobs’ of land that could be sold for $60million and be used for conservation purposes, people were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
He talked about a DoC building that the Department didn’t need any longer and gravel pits that were a waste of land.
The way the Minister sold us the changes suggested we were fools to keep these ‘bibs and bobs’, but then Forest and Bird (as well as Greenpeace) released maps of exactly how much Conservation land would be up for privatization if the changes became law and suddenly those ‘bibs and bobs’ amounted to 60% of our conservation land now up for grabs!
The Minister was surprised by the scorn he received during scrutiny week last week and he claims no one is talking about that scale of sell off .
He essentially said we should simply trust him, and that’s where it beacme so problematic and untenable for the Government because example after example of this Government’s agenda has shown they operate in absolute bad faith.
It was very difficult for anyone to trust the Minister was acting in good faith and would only sell off unused DoC buildings and gravel pits because the last 2 and a half years of this Government have shown they do what they like without any concern for the communities impacted.
Why would this Government start acting in good faith now?
That political reality was so huge, Minister Potaka this week had to back down.
The fact the majority of the electorate doesn’t trust any good faith from this Government to the point they have to perform embarrassing backdowns doesn’t bode well for the Coalition this election.
