Karangahake community takes fight for mountain to beehive

Our Wellington trip was such a great success! We gathered supporters to Parliament’s grounds to stand with Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki presenting their petition calling for the extension of Schedule 4 to protect Mount Karangahake and ALL the conservation land of the Coromandel-Hauraki region.
The petition was handed to Catherine Delahunty by Cath Wallace, long term Watchdog activist and all round legend, amidst karakia, waiata, and chanting. It was officially presented to Parliament by Catherine the next day. Labour’s environment spokesperson, David Parker, was in attendance and he made it clear to us that a Labour government will implement the extension of Schedule 4 and will ALSO make Schedule 4 itself far more robust, which was great to hear!
The fact that New Talisman have started mining operations on Mount Karangahake, and the sacred maunga is now in danger of becoming a full scale industrial operation once again, is the perfect illustration of why the entire Coromandel-Hauraki region should have been included in Schedule 4 protection from the start – not just land north of the Kopu-Hikuai road. The Watchdog petition will now go through the official channels, and all going well, will go before a Select Committee in the new term of Parliament. And we will be supporting it all the way!
We then went from the steps of Parliament into the public gallery to watch Catherine Delahunty question Maggie Barry about why National are allowing a private mining company to lock off conservation land and prospect for gold in an area deemed a national treasure, and whether Maggie would listen to the petitioners and guarantee that the Coromandel’s precious places would be protected. We were disappointed, but not surprised, to hear Maggie Barry simply answer “No, I will not!”.
Meanwhile, our big Avaaz petition is still gathering momentum, currently at 16,690 signatures and climbing, so we’ve decided to make it HUGE, and use it to maximum advantage AFTER the election. So, keep sharing it and stay tuned for what’s next!