Ruth Isaac: Deputy Director-General Policy and Regulatory Services at Department of Conservation on government overhauling approach to conservation

The Government is looking at overhauling its approach to conservation. 

The current Conservation Act hasn’t been touched in 37 years. 

Proposed changes include charging for access to Department of Conservation land, simplifying rules to make protecting natural areas easier, and reducing red tape for tourism opportunities. 

Deputy Director-General Policy and Regulatory Services at Department of Conservation, Ruth Isaac tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the government has been looking at what is being done overseas to generate the revenue needed to maintain and support conservation areas. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather duple Cla Stoft.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Department of Conservation is considering charging us for the
privilege of visiting iconic places around the country, for example,
Cathedral Cove, Tonguetedle Crossing, Milford Track and so on. Keywis
would pay twenty bucks and foreigners would pay thirty bucks.
Ruth Isaac is one of the deputy director generals at
doc Hey. Ruth, Hi there, Ruth, Practically, how would you
impose this chart charge? Right let's turning up to the

(00:24):
Tongetitle crossing. How are you going to charge me before
I hit the thing?

Speaker 1 (00:28):
So it's a really good question and how charges might
be imposed pens on the place, and also decisions about
what kinds of charges ministers want. What we've looked at
overseas is sometimes these things are done as charges per
vehicle in car parks and can be collected that way,
including that people self serving on a at a station

(00:50):
are the other things that happen already. We already charged
per person for concessionaires, and most people, for example at
the Tongaededo crossing, are delivered by a driver and a
shuttle to that place, So we would be able to
potentially add charges that way. In some other places, you know,
people arrived by ferry, those charges could be added that way. Essentially,

(01:13):
the government hasn't made any decisions about exactly what the
right method is. We have been looking at how that's
done overseas, and we'd be really keen to make sure
that whatever we do, it's low cost, it's efficient, we
don't need to employ a lot of people to ensure
compliance and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
But then how would you tell the difference between a
key we and a foreigner turning up to the tool,
or let's say you were if you were charging it,
if it was something that was prepaid for the vehicle,
how would you know that this one is a foreigner
that needs to pay thirty bucks as opposed to twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
So that's a good question and we've been thinking about that.
But we already have differential pricing for our great walks
in some of our huts, internationals and others, and we
have a system that enables us to check passports and
do that. So we would be looking at how we
could include those sorts of mechanisms if we were going
to have differential pricing or if there was going to

(02:06):
be different charges that is, for internationals or domestic.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
So, Ruth, this is a no brainer. Everybody does it
around the world. It's long overdue. Why on earth do
you guys need to consult on it? Why don't you
just do it? I mean, it's not unusual for the
government to up charges those up charges the other day
on the international visitor leady, So why don't you just
do it?

Speaker 1 (02:23):
So? Okay, good question this one. We actually need to
change the law to make it clear that we can
introduce you yes, so much.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
You don't need to ask permission to change the law
to change it.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, it's standard orthodox practice for the government to put
its proposals to the public, see what the public think,
and then to take forward changes to legislation. That doesn't
always happen, but that would be pretty common practice for
changing the legislation. And on this conversation, ministers are really
keen to hear what New Zealanders think because in some

(02:56):
areas the sort of the right to access public conservation
land has been enshrined in that law for quite a
long time, and there are some people who will have
fairly strong views about changes to that and they want
to hear from everyone about those views.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
All right, Ruth, thank you very much appreciated Ruth, Isaac
and best of luck with it who is with the
Department of Conservation.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
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Speaker 2 (03:20):
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