bigger govt budget for conservation

I hope the hippy fraction inside the Green party does not gain influence and insist on only organic pest control. Hope common sense and rational thought prevails, but having people with such a mindset in government is unsettling. Plus there is quite a bit of anti-1080 sentiment in NZfirst, I pray that they are ignored. Our natives deserve the best.

Organic 1080 is possible. Should be no issue except for getting enough from South Australia.

It is not Organic, the Aussie organic regulators just made a exception for it because they recognise its effectiveness.

I'm far more concerned about NZF's conservation policy, or more specifically its Outdoor Recreation policy, than I am about the Greens'.

I been to a Green party meeting. I seen what their members are like, and heard their views. I simply do not trust them. While the increase funding for DOC is a good thing, the general mentality of their core membership concerns me. If NZfirst can develop an equally effective alternative to 1080 which is safer, or simply better I have no issue with their policy. But until such a alternative is developed 1080 needs to stay. Not overly concerned with the rest of their policies, although the devil can be in the detail (or the lack of).

Every party is keen on researching alternatives, especially as 1080 is primarily a tool for repeated control rather than eradication. What concerns me about NZF is that its policy is largely unpredictable. Prior to the election, Richard Prosser was hanging out in anti 1080 nutcase conspiracy theory tinfoil hat forums (and the complete and utter irrationality of discussion in a Facebook group like 1080 eyewitness genuinely does frighten me), being their friend and promising them that 1080 would be gone by lunch time. Prosser is gone but the policy isn't, and there are records of Winston at various public meetings backing that stance when asked, even though I don't he really cares. I don't expect this to happen, mostly because it doesn't seem to be a major driver of NZF policy as well as being highly unrealistic, and NZF is one of the least predictable parties for comparing stated policy with reality. It doesn't campaign very strongly on specific policy compared with its leader's personality, and the promise that Winston will "do something". I think what I'm more worried about is to end up with a concession like a push for subsidising and fostering the further development of the fur industry. It sounds great superficially but even if it focuses on places not presently getting much pest control, it's also an industry which relies on having destructive pests in NZs ecosystem, as well as being focused on removing only some but not others. If and when more efficient and effective methods become available for controlling the pests, it becomes that much harder to get the social consent to use them.

1080 does occur naturally in a small area of South Australia. The local population of most native animals there is imune to it. Had our possums been sourced from there 1080 would have been totally ineffective. So yes 1080 could be organic although none of the available version is. Not that it matters is still a horrid poison that I would see banned as soon as a better option came along

After 2050 we don't need 1080 anymore.

i am declaring 1080 OFF TOPIC, as the original poster of this thread it just causes arguments. new minister of conservation Eugenie Sage https://home.greens.org.nz/people/eugeniesage Before entering Parliament she had a long professional career in environmental advocacy. She has been involved in RMA advocacy on numerous district and regional plans, and major resource consents for more than 25 years at both council and Environment Court level and has been a certified RMA hearings commissioner. She worked for Forest and Bird for more than 13 years playing a leading role in Forest and Bird's successful campaigns to protect West Coast forests from logging and to establish conservation parks in the South Island high country. She was made a Distinguished Life Member of Forest and Bird in 2011. Campaigning to protect Canterbury's braided rivers such as the Waimakariri, Hurunui and Rakaia from more irrigation takes and pollution took Eugenie into local government and then national politics. In 2007 she won a seat on the Canterbury Regional Council on a platform of clean water, improved land use and better care of the region's waterways and aquifers