Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Tama Potaka: National's Conservation Spokesperson on the party's pledge to double QEII National Trust funding if re-elected

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Tama Potaka: National's Conservation Spokesperson on the party's pledge to double QEII National Trust funding if re-elected · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: The National Party has pledged to double permanent funding for
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  Speaker 1: the Queen Elizabeth's iond National Trust if re elected. It
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  Speaker 1: says the move will give the trust certainty to keep
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  Speaker 1: working with farmers and landowners to protect New Zealand's heritage.
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  Speaker 1: The new permanent funding level would go from approximately four
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  Speaker 1: point two million to around eight point five million per year.
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  Speaker 1: Tama Portaka, the National Party conservation spokesperson, is worth me.
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  Speaker 2: Now, good morning, Kyodo, and thanks for having me on
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  Speaker 2: your show.
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  Speaker 1: Love you to talk to you. Why is this important.
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  Speaker 2: It's very important because some of the biggest and most
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  Speaker 2: pragmatic conservationists and environmentalists actually farmers, very passionate, enthusiastic around
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  Speaker 2: protecting areas on their farms which have huge biodiversity. And
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  Speaker 2: some of the most important bidiversity is actually located on
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  Speaker 2: private land. It's not public land. So when we co
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  Speaker 2: invest with farmers, we can put in a dollar and
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  Speaker 2: they put in about six or seven dollars and you
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  Speaker 2: expand the amount of land that's got huge biodiversity and
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  Speaker 2: is protected.
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  Speaker 1: How in particular is it going to help farmers and landowners.
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  Speaker 1: What's the money going to?
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  Speaker 2: What it often goes to is helping farmers with fencing,
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  Speaker 2: with trapping costs and other investments that they need to
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  Speaker 2: make in order to better enhance that land on their property,
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  Speaker 2: on their farm which has bi diversity. We visit a farm,
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  Speaker 2: you say, for example, out in Bombay, out in the
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  Speaker 2: near the hunu Or Arrange and upset aside an area.
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  Speaker 2: They've got some trapping going on, They've got all sorts
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  Speaker 2: of birds coming back into the life, and few wetlands
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  Speaker 2: being protected, and a whole bunch of kahe kati and
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  Speaker 2: other native trees growing fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: Is this increase just to help farmers currently in the
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  Speaker 1: trust or is it to meet the demand of farmers
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  Speaker 1: who would like to join the trust? Is there a demand?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, great question. And it all help both because
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  Speaker 2: the cure To Trust encourages new areas of land on
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  Speaker 2: farms to come within the covenant, but also help support
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  Speaker 2: repairs and maintenance. Because this is nearly fifty years old,
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  Speaker 2: nearly and nearly two hundred thousand hectares that are protected
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  Speaker 2: in this way, So after fifty years sometimes the fences
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  Speaker 2: break down and they need a bit of support along
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  Speaker 2: the way. And this is what the trust does in
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  Speaker 2: order to improve by diversity. And actually get wetlands, June
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  Speaker 2: lands and other places back and running.
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  Speaker 1: If we're putting more public money into the trust, does
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  Speaker 1: this mean that the public might get access to these
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  Speaker 1: areas or will it still be by the permission of
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  Speaker 1: the landowner.
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  Speaker 2: Well, generally by the permission of the landown. And don't
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  Speaker 2: forget we've got eight and a half million heatbers of
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  Speaker 2: public land just in the conservation estate itself, so that's
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  Speaker 2: quite a considerable amount. In the Q two land, there's
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  Speaker 2: about two hundred thousand heat beares.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. O Federated Farmers is calling for other parties to
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  Speaker 1: get behind this and make it across party priority. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it's not a huge amount of money considering sort of
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  Speaker 1: the figures that we throw out pre election. Timer, surely
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  Speaker 1: they get on board.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I hope so, and I hope people see that
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  Speaker 2: the National Party is very committed to the environment. Where
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  Speaker 2: the Predator Free twenty fifty orplined announcement last week, we're
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  Speaker 2: very supportive of the elimination of wild and pines and
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  Speaker 2: of course getting rid of some of these pisky pests
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  Speaker 2: and predators like feral cats, musterlids and rodents. I hear
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of rodents running constantpiece, so that's part
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  Speaker 2: of our Predator Free twenty fifty Auckland project.
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  Speaker 1: You've got to look after the grainland four hundred. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: what did you think about the What did you think
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  Speaker 1: about the call for the cats to release the cats
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  Speaker 1: to help the rodent issue.
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  Speaker 2: I know it's absolutely important that as we go out
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  Speaker 2: and eliminate feral cats, we also eliminate rats at the
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  Speaker 2: same time, because if you take out all the feral
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  Speaker 2: cats at once, the rats to start exploding like anything.
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  Speaker 2: It's like exploding like gremlins. So you've got to be
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  Speaker 2: really focused on getting rid of both of them at
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  Speaker 2: the same time. And that's why we're so invested in
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  Speaker 2: the predator free movement and also working closely with players
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  Speaker 2: like the Next Foundation and the Auckland Council to get
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  Speaker 2: rid of these predators up in the Fungal Power Peninsula,
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  Speaker 2: some of the predator Free Islands, and also between Point
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  Speaker 2: Sheer and the Tamaka River. Those are the sorts of
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  Speaker 2: areas that we're focusing on for that particular project.
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  Speaker 1: Tam, I'd love you to talk to you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. That was Tama
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  Speaker 1: Portakavet For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen
• 4:08
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