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18.  OUTDOOR RECREATION AS A STAND-ALONE CATEGORY OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Outdoor recreation, and especially hunting and fishing, is a crucial component of our Kiwi lifestyle and culture, and contributes significantly to our “100% Pure New Zealand” international brand. However there appears to be a growing disconnection between many New Zealanders and the natural environment.

Outdoor recreation also has a special role to play as an entry point for environmental awareness and conservation appreciation, as well as overall public health.  The promotion, management, support, advocacy, and education for outdoor recreation is split among a wide range of organisations, Government departments, and volunteer groups, each generally with relatively narrow and individual special interests. 
Fish & Game New Zealand is one of these, but believes that New Zealand generally would benefit from the promotion, development, and active management of outdoor recreation, which would be stimulated through a separately debated category of election policy development and potential party differentiation, rather than be left as the poor cousin of conservation policy, where it has randomly languished and been only briefly discussed in the past.  Fish & Game New Zealand further believes such a policy category would be keenly read and considered by many voters, perhaps providing some colourful and welcome relief from the traditionally drier topics of election campaign debates.

Question:  Does your party support Outdoor Recreation becoming a stand-alone category of political party policy development?

Outdoor recreation is a major and growing policy area that needs more attention, but it is intrinsically related to the management and conservation of natural values. Therefore, we support integrated policy development. The Green Party has worked to increase DoC recreation funding, get better public access, seek ground-based pest control in preference to aerial where appropriate, and advocate that recreation needs be fostered. We agree outdoor recreation has a special role to play.

Yes. It would be beneficial to have a locus for different groups to come together.

Yes, but we also believe that policy across the breadth of issues needs to be integrated and some political parties have in the past had conflicting policy across their manifesto. So we favour having policy on outdoor recreation, but we don’t favour it being developed in isolation from other policies.

Yes, absolutely. Our unique Kiwi lifestyle is deserving of separate policy consideration. Citizens of New Zealand are smart and they know they could make more money in Hong Kong, London, or New York. But would they have a better lifestyle? That is the question. And, for by far the greatest majority of New Zealanders, the answer is a great big NO. Even the ones who do chase the money usually come back. Why? They come back for the lifestyle. Visitors come here to experience the lifestyle and the pursuits they can engage in here for little or no cost. Therefore, those aspects of our lifestyle that are unique to New Zealand must be retained at all costs. We trade heavily on our “clean and green” image overseas, so it makes good economic sense to protect it as well.

Yes, it always has been a vitally important policy area for UnitedFuture. We already have a specific outdoor recreation policy that includes sections on:
• Reclassification of deer, chamois, tahr, and pigs
• Marine recreational fishing
• Freshwater recreational fishing
• Recreational risk management
• Practical access to public land
• Department of Conservation reform
• Oceans
• Marine Reserves

National has demonstrated the importance it gives to outdoor recreation by appointing a specific spokesman and developing a specific policy. Our broader policies around conservation, fishing, environment, and education all recognise the importance of outdoor recreation as part of the New Zealand way of life.

That’s up to the political parties themselves.

Yes. The Kiwi Party has a stand-alone outdoor recreation policy category, which can be accessed on our website. We believe that the encouragement of outdoor recreation, in all of its forms, has the potential to make a massive contribution to the public good. Tramping, walking, hiking, climbing, hunting, and fishing are all absolutely central to the development of ‘the Kiwi character’.

While we recognise that outdoor recreation is an integral part of our heritage and culture, our health, and the spiritual values of all New Zealanders, we believe policy work should remain integrated within our wider policy development.

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