Explainer: Could the Conservation Amendment Bill really lead to billionaires buying up the national estate?

Explainer: Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says the Conservation Amendment Bill doesn't include a plan to sell great swathes of conservation land.

But conservation groups say he's missing the point, because the bill creates a legal framework that could allow just that.

Here's what the bill says.

What does the bill actually do?

The bill has been described by Potaka as the biggest change to conservation management in decades. It removes red tape and modernises how public conservation land is managed, he says.

There are several key changes.

The biggest is the addition of a new, overarching consideration the Department of Conservation (DOC) has to account for when making decisions. It must put economic opportunities front and centre.

Potaka expects the changes in the bill will result in much needed funds.

"This is expected to raise around $60 million a year, which will be reinvested back into conservation, biodiversity protection, heritage sites, tracks, huts, and visitor infrastructure. New Zealanders will continue to have free access," he said when announcing the bill.

It will be possible to collect levies from international tourists visiting popular areas.

The bill also speeds up permissions for certain types of activities on conservation land, with the introduction of pre-approved activities. Up to 30 to 40 percent of applications will no longer need to be individually processed, Potaka suggests. These activities include things like collecting air or water for scientific research purposes, and numerous types of commercial recreation activities, such as guided walking, biking and horse-trekking trips.

But it's a proposal in the bill to allow additional types of land to be sold that has created a stir.

What land does it make available for sale?

Currently, only land classed as 'stewardship land' is allowed to be sold. The bill changes this.

National parks, wilderness areas, ecological and sanctuary areas, nature reserves, scientific reserves, marine reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and two named scenic reserves (Kaikoura Island and Rakitu Island) are exempt from sale, but all other conservation land is eligible.

Stewardship land includes roughly 2.4m hectares of the country.

The proposed changes would add another 2.8m hectares of land. This increases the total land potentially available for sale to just over 5m hectares. In total, New Zealand has roughly 8.5m hectares of conservation land. The bill tightly protects 40 percent of that land.

What's the test for selling?

At present, the Department of Conservation says stewardship land can be sold only if it has no or very low conservation value.

DOC's director Treaty negotiations and land Peter Galvin told RNZ stewardship land can't be sold if it:

Has international, national or regional significance

Represents a habitat or ecosystem that is under-represented in public conservation lands, or has the potential to be restored to improve the representation of habitats or ecosystems that are under-represented in public conservation lands

Improves the natural functioning or integrity of places

Improves the amenity or utility of places

Improves the natural linkages between places

Secures practical walking access to public conservation lands and waters, rivers, lakes or the coast

DOC also assesses the historic and cultural heritage value of the land before deciding if it can be sold.

The bill proposes new tests, which Potaka described on RNZ's Morning Report as "stringent".

The new tests allow land in these areas to be exchanged or "disposed" by selling off, as long as it's not important for threatened species and it doesn't contain the best examples of wildlife or plants of its type in the area.

Forest & Bird's chief advisor on conservation policy Richard Capie says the proposed tests are inadequate and the new bar is considerably lower than what is currently in place.

"Those safeguards are setting a threshold that is way too low and will actually put those places at risk, and put the creatures that live there, the native species that we care about so much, deeply at risk."

Why is there disagreement between the conservation minister and conservation groups?

Since Forest & Bird released maps showing how much conservation land could be affected by the bill, there's been a flurry of words, with some of the strongest coming from the conservation minister himself, who has repeatedly insisted only "bits and bobs" would be sold.

During a scrutiny hearing in Parliament last week Potaka said the idea he was trying to sell 60 percent of the conservation estate was "spurious", "ridiculous", "fantasy land" and "the Olympic championships for exaggeration".

"Some groups have highlighted maps showing around 60 percent of public conservation land as potentially eligible for exchange or disposal and suggested this means those areas are at risk of being sold, that interpretation is misleading," he told RNZ.

He also pointed out the maps included stewardship land, which is already able to be sold. Additionally he said certain reserves can be sold, by first revoking reserve status before selling it.

Land being eligible for sale doesn't mean it will be sold.

"The Department of Conservation is not embarking on a programme of selling conservation land, nor does the Bill direct or require any land to be sold."

But Capie says there's a gap between what's intended and what the bill enables.

"We need to distinguish between what a specific minister might say they want to do and actually what any minister would be able to do under this legislation."

The bill as it stands explicitly protects 40 percent of the conservation estate, leaving the rest potentially available for sale.

Forest & Bird is in favour of making the process of a sale easier, especially when it comes to the type of examples Potaka has used like the land Wellington's MetService office is located on. It's the change in the current types of land, and the tests for sale the group is concerned about.

Combining the new sales rules with the new economic imperative for DOC in the bill could be problematic, Capie says.

Forest & Bird is now calling for the bill to be withdrawn, calling it fundamentally flawed and in need of more than a few minor tweaks.

Will we see for sale signs on conservation land?

The bill doesn't make it clear where a proposal to sell land could come from.

It says the director-general of DOC needs to consult on any proposal and produce a report recommending whether the land could be sold or not. The sale process can only progress if the report recommends it.

Capie's take on this is that third parties could potentially ask to buy land as it would be unusual for DOC to propose something to itself and then recommend against it.

"This isn't just about DOC managing its own land. This is about opening the door for people to come knocking on the door and saying to DOC, 'Hey, we're interested in buying that'. That's really, really concerning."

Could we see billionaire bunkers constructed in forest parks? The particular piece of land a theoretical billionaire wanted to buy would first need to fall short of the thresholds around our most threatened species or the best examples of habitat.

"Then you put that driver on DOC to be an economic agency to make the most money it can, then I think you know what the answer to that would be," says Capie.

What's next

The bill is open for public submissions until 2 July. It will then be discussed in a select committee and would need to pass a second and third reading to become law.