Hobson’s Pledge Trust

In a shock move on Friday, three of the 11-member West Coast Conservation Board have resigned saying they have been called racist for raising what they see as conflicts between the interests of conservation and the interests of Ngai Tahu.

Neil Silverwood, Inger Perkins and Suzanne Hills have all quit, following a fraught meeting of the board a week earlier when Mr Silverwood stormed out, after a majority vote supporting plans for the $26 million Punakaiki visitor centre. See Shock resignations

A new visitor centre and car parking will be built in Punakaiki with government funding. Photo: Stuff

The building at Dolomite Point will be given to Poutini Ngai Tahu on completion and the Department of Conservation will lease space in it. But Mr Silverwood, Ms Hills and Ms Perkins are concerned that the gift amounts to privatising what should be a public asset.

Aside from the alleged conflict of interest, the decision by a conservation board to give a $26 million visitor centre to a tribe to profit from is another example of race-based privilege that successive governments deny the existence of.

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