The Labour MP returned to Wanaka yesterday from four days tramping in the northeast sector of Mt Aspiring National Park, an area identified in a leaked report from Government officials as suitable for mining purposes.
Mr Parker, the Opposition spokesman for conservation, said a trip into the Wilkin and Young River Valleys highlighted "how ridiculous" the Government's stocktake policy of mineral resources in New Zealand's national parks was.
Mining in the Mt Aspiring National Park was an "environmental folly", aside from the logistical challenges involved with any operation, he said.
Mr Parker said he thought attention was being diverted away from other lesser-known conservation areas in New Zealand, such as the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island and Kahurangi, in the northwest corner of the South Island.
These two conservation areas were "more likely" to be a target for easing protective covenants, Mr Parker said.
As part of the Government's stocktake of New Zealand's mineral resources, Minister of Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee is reviewing schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, which gives protected status to conservation areas and national parks.
Last month, the Green Party released a leaked memo in which Government officials recommended parts of Mt Aspiring be removed from schedule 4 to allow for mining exploration.
The northeast sector of the national park contains the only known known carbonatite deposits in the country, including showings of gold, chromium, nickel, and other minerals, the leaked memo said.
Mr Parker invited Mr Brownlee to join him on the tough, four-day tramping circuit, which includes a 1500m climb over the Gillespie Pass saddle, during the final question time in Parliament before Parliament rose for the Christmas holidays.
He suggested that the trip would allow Mr Brownlee the chance to "inspect first-hand areas in the conservation estate included in his stocktake of mineral resources".
Mr Brownlee declined the invitation, saying "all I'm required to bring is a pair of boots".
While "deeply touched" at Mr Parker's desire to spend "quality" time alone with him in the high country, "I've seen that film Brokeback Mountain and I'm afraid I'm unavailable", Mr Brownlee said.
A final report from Ministry of Economic Development officials regarding the mineral resources stocktake review will be put out for public consultation in February, Mr Brownlee has said.
Mr Parker said yesterday he was "glad he didn't have to lug Gerry's pack over Gillespie Pass," as he had volunteered in his exchange with the Minister.
Mining in National Parks "ought to be" considered inappropriate and if it went ahead, the Government needed to have "public accountability" for such a decision, Mr Parker said.
