The New Zealand Outdoors & Freedom Party is concerned that recent governments have not valued our Outdoors Culture or the importance of New Zealanders being and feeling connected with nature and having ready access to our Outdoors.

Access to and connection with the Great Outdoors for a range of activities is fundamental to our New Zealand culture. The Great Outdoors is what makes New Zealand special and unique.

We will Replace the Department of Conservation with a new Department of Outdoors – Wildlife, Recreation and Nature (“DOWRN pronounced DAWN”).

The purpose of DOWRN  is to
 

a)     Encourage New Zealanders to get Outdoors and enjoy a range of activities for physical, mental and spiritual well-being including for fun, recreation, education and relaxation.

b)     Promote public access to the Outdoors including all public land, coastal marine and rivers;

c)      Promote the conservation of rivers, forests, other natural habitats and wildlife using a holistic approach so natural ecosystems can thrive free from poisons or other contamination and so we and our children can in future safely drink water from wild streams.

d)     To encourage food gathering for personal, whanau and educational purposes from public land.

e)     Provide places for different potentially conflicting Outdoors activities, by developing an Outcomes for Places approach so people can help decide and then enjoy different the character of different locations.

f)       Make provision for commercial activities when these commercial activities will not adversely affect wildlife or public use and enjoyment.

g)     Ensure early and comprehensive public engagement in decisions which may affect public access to or use of public land including consideration of alternative approaches.

h)     Ensure information about public resources, and their management is made publicly available at the earliest opportunity;

i)       Ensure that all decisions are made in the public interest and in accordance with good governance and sound principles of public law.

j)       Provide a framework for statutory entities such as Fish and Game, tangata whenua, and community interests such as CORANZ and other recreational and commercial users  and local landowners to whiteboard strategies and solutions to promote these policies and at all times acting in the public interest.

The philosophy of Outdoors Party is that all the policies work together and do not compete either with our intent or other policies. Ultimately we want what you want – a healthy vibrant natural environment with thriving native species but with space for humans to enjoy, participate and benefit.

We recognise that our native species need suitable habitat to thrive.

We will research the limiting factor for survival of critical native species and develop optimal holistic solutions to help these species thrive. 

We will encourage trapping and other non-poison related solution to manage predators whilst encouraging use of possum fur and meat. 

Free access to our beaches, forests, rivers and great outdoors is important for our physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing.

 Our wild places provide fresh air, clean water to help New Zealanders and our environment to thrive.

The NZ Outdoors Party is concerned that recent governments have not valued our Outdoors Culture or the importance of New Zealanders being and feeling connected with nature and having ready access to our Outdoors.