An online petition protesting against the proposed Milford Dart tunnel has accelerated to more than 11,500 signatures and record-breaking status.
The petition was started by Patricia Ko on change.org, a site created to enable social change by ordinary people.
Communications director for change.org Australia and New Zealand Tony Robertson said Ms Ko's petition was now the largest the site had hosted in New Zealand. Signatures had been coming in from all over the world.
"This is one that clearly resonates with people.
"It's largely New Zealand signatures at the moment but people from overseas are becoming aware of it and even commentating on it," he said yesterday.
He said many signatures were from tourism operators who had joined in opposition and warned "one of the world's last great wilderness destinations will be ruined by the construction of an underground bus tunnel through the area".
New Zealand examples of petitions the site has hosted include the issue of deaf Green MP Mojo Mathers having to provide her own hearing equipment for Parliament, the Auckland port workers' dispute, and the Rena oil spill.
Less than three weeks ago, after running for three and a-half weeks, the petition numbered 4000 and was presented by Ms Ko to Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson at Queenstown Airport as she was departing from tourism expo Trenz.
When questioned by the Otago Daily Times about how much influence the petition would have, the minister said it would be considered together with other submissions.
The tunnel proposal attracted more than 1200 submissions and was the subject of public hearings in Queenstown and Te Anau for two weeks in March.
It would cost $150 million and run 11.6km from the Routeburn Rd in Mt Aspiring National Park to the Hollyford Rd in the Fiordland National Park.
Change.org was started in 2007 in the United States by Ben Rattray, Mark Dimas and Adam Cheyer and now has offices on four continents, with the Australian office opening last October.
Mr Robertson described it as "a free platform to start a campaign" people cared about, and campaigns could be shared on social media to attract more attention.
"We're finding it's a really efficient way to campaign and to actually get results."
Internationally, the site has influenced major corporations such as the Bank of America to change their practices.
