We'll be getting a new Minister of Hunting and Fishing if National gets elected.
The party also wants to change the law so that game animals like deer, Himalayan tahr and pigs are no longer classified as pests to protect our right to hunt and fish.
But one hunter says that's at odds with New Zealand's efforts to protect native forests.
Hunters from the depths of Te Urewera to the spurs of Fiordland - the National Party has your vote in its sights.
"What we've been working very hard with is the fishing and hunting interest groups to make sure we get the balance right for them," National leader Christopher Luxon said.
National will:
- Establish a Minister for Hunting and Fishing
- Strengthen the Game Animal Council and designate 'herds of special interest'
- Change the law so game animals are not pests
- Guarantee access to public land for hunting and fishing
- Establish the 'Huts of Recreational Importance' Partnership to maintain huts in the DoC estate
- Support Fish & Game New Zealand and protect trout and salmon fishing
- Not introduce recreational licences for game animal hunting or sea fishing.
"Hunters are already managing our huts. They're already maintaining our huts, already got those organisations in place doing that herd management, it just seems like we'll keep the status quo," said hunter Sam Gibson.
"We don't need a Minister for Hunting. We have a Minister for Sport and we have a Minister of Conservation," said Green Party spokesperson for conservation MP Eugenie Sage.
Hunters say lower populations of deer are better for hunting. If there are too many they compete with each other for food and lose the condition of sought-after trophies.
"Deer herds are out of control in many areas so we need to be actively managing our deer herds," Gibson said.
National cut funding to the Department of Conservation (DoC) when it was last in power. Since then DoC's funding has gradually increased. But even then conservationists say the $30 million last year for goat and deer management was nowhere near enough.
"There are thousands of deer out there for New Zealanders to hunt. But if we want biodiversity to thrive we also need to control deer in our national parks where conservation is really important," Sage said.
There might be another motivation for the policy.
"I do think it'll bring some of the ACT vote over to National," Gibson said.
But does it stack up?
"This package seems to be a little bit soft. It seems to be, 'We're going to bring in a Minister', but I see no mention of the funding that we really urgently need," Gibson said.
Luxon advises hunters and fishers are in safe hands with National's hunting and fishing spokesperson Todd McClay.
"Funding will flow from that, but at the moment what we want to do is make sure that we understand the concerns from that sector, and Todd's done an exceptional job of pulling together a common-sense policy and we'll continue to develop it over time," Luxon said.
What some might call policy on the hoof.
