Is Eugenie Sage the most subversive minister in

Green MP may not be a household name, but she is making waves. Audrey Young explains

Eugenie Sage is a veteran environmental activist who has upset people all her life.

That has not changed since the Green MP was sworn into Jacinda Ardern’s Government in 2017 with three ministerial responsibilities.

Her biggest portfolio is Conservation but she has not made too many waves there. She secured a handsome boost in funding for the department and she has taken a hard line against 1080 extremists.

As Associate Environment Minister she was responsible for banning single-use plastic bags in shops from July 1.

She has caused the greatest upset in her role as Land Information Minister, to such an extent that there is speculation in Wellington that she may be reshuffled out of it.

She may even be willing to have a swap for a portfolio that creates less angst.

In the role she is one of the main two ministers deciding if applications by foreign investors should be approved. The other is David Clark.

Belonging to a party that has never embraced foreign investment means some of her approvals have been a source of anxiety within her party.

Belonging to a Government in which the two other parties, Labour and NZ First, are jobs focussed, one decision has been a source of anxiety.

The two decision-making ministers have varied since the Overseas Investment Act took effect in 2005 but never before have two ministers come up with different decisions, until now, and such wildly differing reasoning.

On May 3 Sage decided to decline Oceana Gold’s application to buy a couple of farms in Waihı to enable the construction of a tailings storage facility that would extend the life of its goldmine for a further nine years. Clark approved it.

Because decisions require approval from both, Sage’s decision was effectively a veto.

The decision has shocked the miners’ union, the Labouraffiliated E Tu¯ union, the Employers and Manufacturers’ Association, and Sage’s colleagues in Government.

At stake are 350 jobs, about 250 fulltime equivalent direct employees and about 100 existing contractors.

Without the new tailings facility, the company’s existing Project Martha could continue until 2028. With it, the new Project Quattro would run from 2028 to 2036.

In the document outlining her decision, Sage said nine years was sufficient time to establish new employment opportunities and criticised the fact that, despite the mine having been in operation for some time, the median personal income in the Hauraki District was only $23,000, raising questions on the mine’s benefit to the community.

Kit Wilson, Oceana Gold’s senior community adviser, says the average wage at the mine is $110,000.

Even at $100,000, over nine extra years for 350 workers that amounts to a $300 million-plus decision by Sage.

Oceana Gold bought the mine from Newmont in 2016, requiring consent under the Overseas Investment Act. Consent was granted provided it continued to invest in the company, expand and keep people employed, Wilson said.

“A couple of years ago the Overseas Investment Office were saying ‘please invest’. And now we are being told no need to.”

The company is considering seeking a judicial review of the decision by the High Court.

E Tu¯’s Paul Tolich, the union’s senior national industrial officer, said the decision puts at risk the long-term viability of the mine “which has been there for decades, has very well-paying jobs in a provincial area, does not involve matters relating to amelioration because of the effects of climate change”.

He added: “I find it highly unusual that a minister would have approved a water bottling plant [the expansion of Otakiri in Bay of Plenty] which has a crude form of extraction industry, where no value is added and only a few jobs are involved, compared with a high value-added product like gold which employs far more people and pays far better.”

Hauraki district mayor John Tregidga has accused Sage of having a conflict of interest as a Green Party member and says she should have stepped aside from the decision. “She would not have been popular

with her party members if she had approved it.”

The decision affected not only the workers at the mine but also the whole of Waih¯ı and New Zealand Inc.

The town had had crossparty support for years for its mining activities “and yet at the flick of a switch we can completely reverse that”.

Labour and New Zealand First needed to say if that was now the position of the coalition Government “and if it is, we need to know because it has huge influence for planning, for prospecting, for drilling and everything else that goes into this industry”.

Sage herself won’t comment on who she consulted before deciding because the case could well be before courts. But it is known that soon after making her decision her office issued a statement on the Beehive website — which is highly unusual.

Announcements have always been left to the Overseas Investment Office.

It means the decision was out before the Budget and the anticipated post-Budget reshuffle.

One surprising aspect is the degree to which Sage and Clark differed when setting out how much weighting they were giving various factors.

Clark gave at least five factors a high weighting, including the jobs, which Sage gave only moderate weighting.

Clark gave the increase in export receipts a high weighting whereas she gave it a moderate weighting. He gave a high weighting to the company’s previous investment, but she gave it a low weighting and he gave a high weighting to economic interests whereas she gave it a negative weighting, lower than low.

Clark cited the fact that the company contributed to the national economy, spending, for example $373 million in New Zealand in 2016.

She pointed to stress from underground vibrations, uncertainty on property value and effects on mental health.

They also diverged in citing Government policy.

David Clark: “The associate minister recognises that this investment will occur in a regional economy and is consistent with the Government’s policy of enhancing economic development in the regions.”

Eugenie Sage: “The acquisition of the land will enable more mining, and therefore more emissions, which could encumber New Zealand’s transition to a net-zero emissions economy. The Government has agreed the transition to a net-zero emissions economy is in New Zealand’s interest.”

Sage did not accept assurances about risk management of the tailing facility, citing a recent Brazilian dam breach.