The background

Green MP Eugenie Sage’s Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill was pulled from the biscuit tin ballot in August 2022. If passed into law, this Bill will protect millions of hectares of conservation land and hundreds of native species from destruction at the hands of the mining industry. Specifically it will:

  • Prohibit new exploration, prospecting and mining activity on conservation lands and waters
  • Implement the 2017 Government commitment in the Speech from the Throne to no new mines on conservation land
  • Strengthen the protection of indigenous biodiversity, and help implement Te Mana o Te Taiao Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy
  • Prohibit new coal mines and any expansion of existing coal mines after 1 January 2025, to protect the climate

For this Bill to have any chance at succeeding - and be given the opportunity for public consultation - Labour needs to support it at the first reading (likely May 2023).

Last year, Labour indicated that they will not support the Bill1, despite making a promise in 2017 that there would be no new mines on conservation land.2

We need to make sure key Labour Ministers and MPs are hearing loud and clear that there is widespread public support for this.

What you can do

  1. Request a meeting
    If you live in the electorate of any of the MPs listed below, requesting a meeting will convey the importance and urgency of this issue, even if you don’t manage to actually get a meeting. If you are willing to do this, get in touch so we can offer support: [email protected]
  2. Send an email to the Minister for Conservation, Hon Willow-Jean Prime
    As a new Cabinet Minister, Willow-Jean Prime now has more influence to build support for Eugenie's Members' Bill. Let her know why this issue is important to you.

  3. Send a message on social media
    Consider also sending a message via Facebook messenger, or Twitter.

Below are links to Labour MPs contact details from their website (including email and social media), and some key points you could make.

Don't forget to let us know you’ve sent a message (via quick form)

Questions? Email [email protected]

Key points

Here are some points you might like to make in your message. You don’t need to include everything!

Your personal stories, experience, and expertise matter, so lead with this. Speak from the heart about why you want to see this Labour Government protect Papatūānuku - our forests and whenua, our waterways and our climate - rather than caving to the mining industry.

  • It has now been five years since former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised through the 2017 Speech from the Throne that there would be no new mines on conservation land.
  • After years of pressure from the Greens, iwi and hāpu, community and environmental organisations, and tens of thousands of New Zealanders,3 Parliament has the opportunity to pass legislation to protect public conservation land and waters from mining, and keep coal in the ground to protect our climate.
  • Mining on Papatūānuku for gold, coal and other minerals can have devastating impacts on nature. It can permanently change landscapes, remove mountain tops, and crater the land. It can involve stripping the land of its forests and native vegetation, and degrading or destroying the homes of vulnerable wildlife such as the giant land snail in Buller, and the Archey’s frog in Coromandel.
  • Mining operations can pollute local waterways with sediment and create waste rock stacks prone to acid mine drainage. Processing ore to extract gold can lead to arsenic, mercury and cyanide pollution. Big mining operations have tended to be boom and bust, leaving local communities to deal with the aftermath of a sudden loss of jobs.
  • Instead of continuing to plunder our environment, we could be encouraging more “urban mining” of electronic waste. We can create new jobs, reduce waste to landfill and protect nature by recovering precious metals such as gold from computers, mobile phones, batteries and other e-waste.
  • I understand this Government has chosen to prioritise the reclassification of stewardship land and changing its legal status ahead of protecting conservation land from mining. However, time is running out for our precious places and wildlife, particularly in the Coromandel where companies such as OceanaGold are preparing to expand their gold mining operations, including blasting and tunneling under precious native forests on conservation land which are home to the endangered Archey’s frog and brown kiwi.
  • The purpose of conservation land is to protect our native plants, wildlife and natural landscapes; and to preserve areas of historic and cultural significance. Yet our current laws still allow mining companies access to these places with their diggers and excavators. We have a biodiversity crisis in Aotearoa and internationally, and we need to put nature first.
  • The protection of conservation land is also the protection of local economies and jobs, which rely on visitors and outdoor activities to sustain them.

Labour MPs contact details

Labour Ministers

Hon Willow-Jean Prime (Minister for Conservation; MP for Northland) Note: PuhiPuhi mine is controversial in Northland

Hon Dr Megan Woods (Minister for Energy and Resources (relevant portfolio); MP for Wigram)

Hon David Parker (Minister for the Environment)

Hon Nanaia Mahuta (Minister of Foreign Affairs; MP for Hauraki-Waikato)

Hon Kiri Allan (former Minister of Conservation; MP for East Coast)

Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall (Minister for Research, Science and Innovation, based in Wellington)

Hon Ginny Andersen (Minister for Small Business; MP for Hutt South)

Hon Barbara Edmonds (Minister of Economic Development, Internal Affairs and Pacific Peoples; MP for Mana)

Hon Dr Deborah Russell (Also MP for New Lynn, Auckland)

Hon Rino Tirikatene (Minister for Trade and Export Growth; MP for Te Tai Tonga)

Hon Rachel Brooking (Minister for Oceans & Fisheries; Assoc. Minister for the Environment)

Hon Dr Duncan Webb (Minister of Commerce & Consumer Affairs; Minister for State Owned Enterprises)


Labour MPs on Environment Select Committee

Tāmati Coffey (List MP based in Rotorua)

Anahila Kanongata’a Suisuiki (List MP based in Papakura, Auckland)

Lemauga Lydia Sosene (List MP based in Auckland)

Angie Warren-Clark (List MP based in Papamoa, Tauranga)


Other Labour MPs worth contacting (ordered North – South)

Dr Emily Henderson (MP for Whangarei)

Camilla Belich (List MP based in Auckland)

Jamie Strange (MP for Hamilton East)

Angela Roberts (List MP based in Taranaki)

Marja Lubeck (List MP based in Kaipara ki Mahurangi)

Anna Lorck (MP for Tukituki)

Tangi Utikere (MP for Palmerston North; Junior Whip)

Terisa Ngobi (MP for Ōtaki)

Rachel Boyack (MP for Nelson - swing seat)

Sarah Pallett (MP for Ilam)

Dr Tracey McLellan (MP for Banks Peninsula)

Hon Dr David Clark (MP for Dunedin)

Ingrid Leary (MP for Taieri)

Dr Liz Craig (List MP based in Invercargill)

Don’t forget to let us know you’ve contacted an MP (via quick form)

References and further information

  1. NZ Herald (23 September 2022). Labour says no to bill banning mining on conservation land, Greens criticise party going back on 2017 promise
  2. Speech from the Throne, 2017.
  3. As well as Eugenie’s open letter which garnered more than 16,000 signatures , Coromandel Watchdog delivered a petition to Parliament with more than 11,000 signatures and the Ours Not Mines coalition are mobilising musicians, artists and local celebrities to remind our Prime Minister “how passionately anti-mine she was”.

Other recent media on this issue

Read what other organisations are saying about this issue

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