Oh, So We're Killing Kiwi Now?
NZ Government has pushed for an amendment to the Wildlife Act to allow for the killing of native wildlife species under areas of infrastructure projects.
The government has rushed an amendment to the Wildlife Act under urgency to allow Department of Conservation (DOC) to permit the killing of wildlife during the construction of roads or infrastructure. This permit would allow the targeting of protected wildlife, such as the kiwi, long-tailed bats, and striped skinks. This change comes off the back of a High Court ruling that found it unlawful for DOC to permit the incidental killing of protected animals by developers, in relation to the construction of the Mount Messenger highway in Taranaki. The construction of this highway has continued under a different Wildlife Act permit.
Minister of Conservation, Tama Potaka, has said these changes to the Act are to help construction developments from being delayed, and that this ruling may have potential to affect other developments. Potaka has also stated that this ruling would not affect Fast Track projects, a bill announced in 2024 that allows a “one-stop shop” for consent approvals for infrastructure projects such as roads, mines, marine farms, and renewable energy projects, as said by RNZ.
Shane Jones shared with Newsroom that he thinks previous governments have held the importance of wildlife conservation over that of human beings. He states, “I’m not having any more of this judicial activism.” While Jones shared that he wasn’t advocating the killing of native species, he doesn’t want this to hinder the country’s development.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson has stated that this law change is cynical and calculated. She shares on the Green Party website that “You can’t claim to value biodiversity while forcing through law changes to make it easier to destroy it. This isn’t about protecting biodiversity—it’s about protecting profit and feeding corporate greed.”
It’s quite likely to see that these law amendments relating to environmental law are direct results of the approval of the Fast Track Bill. But for a country that promotes itself based on its environmental attractiveness, are we ready to sacrifice the income of our tourism industry and native wildlife for a couple extra roads?
