Conservation Amendment Bill
This bill makes big changes to how New Zealand's conservation land is managed. It simplifies planning rules, makes it easier to get permits to run businesses on conservation land (like tours or cafés), allows some conservation land to be swapped or sold, creates special zones where visitor facilities can be built, and lets the government charge overseas visitors a fee to access certain tracks or parks. Most changes are about making conservation land easier to use while still protecting nature.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it, and the parts of the text that show it.
The bill changes how conservation land is planned and managed, replacing multiple planning documents with a simpler two-level system.
replacing two general policies with a single NCPS that is secondary legislation approved by the Minister under the Conservation Act
replacing the hierarchy of conservation management strategies, conservation management plans, and national park management plans with a single layer of non-overlapping area plans
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Environment Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 12 July 2026.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.