With no time frame set for the final decision on the Milford Dart Tunnel, the Glenorchy-based Stop the Tunnel group is hoping a submission to the local government and environment select committee will bolster a refusal to grant consent for the controversial proposal.
The group originally presented a petition of 25,000 signatures in August and has subsequently been asked to submit specifically on the Department of Conservation's concession process.
When dealing with petitions, the local government and environment select committee has the option of writing a report with recommendations, writing one without recommendations or considering the petition along with a related item.
If the committee makes no recommendation, no further action would be taken, but every report which makes recommendations to the Government is passed on to the Government.
It must then write a report on what action, if any, it has taken to implement the recommendations and this is then presented as a parliamentary paper.
Stop the Tunnel's submission, signed on behalf of the group by member Trish Fraser, says the group does not have a problem with the concession process for the most part, but has ''serious reservations about the way the process has been implemented and interpreted in the MDL [Milford Dart Ltd] concession application''.
The submission says the tunnel application is inconsistent with the Mt Aspiring National Park management plan and both the Southland and Otago Conservation Boards recommended the tunnel concession should be declined.
''These people [the boards] are the wider community's voice about public conservation estate and their role is subverted by ignoring their recommendations,'' the submission said.
''By ignoring the democratic process inherent in the creation of management plans and by contradicting the advice of two conservation boards the traditional avenue for public voice has been muted in this process.''
''As a result, we felt compelled to petition the Government so that we could be heard.
''A guide on petitioning the House of Representatives produced by the Clerk of the House advises a petition should be the last resort.
"You may petition the House when no other remedies are available, or where other statutory remedies have been exhausted.''
Last month, newly instated Conservation Minister Nick Smith announced he would make the final decision on the tunnel and Fiordland Link Experience monorail.
The announcement overturned former conservation minister Kate Wilkinson's decision to elevate Doc operations deputy director Sue Cosford to decision maker.
Mr Smith intends to visit the areas which are slated for the tunnel and monorail experience, but will not do so until he has received reports on both proposals from Doc.
Doc media adviser Reuben Williams confirmed the reports were still with Doc and he could not say when they would be handed over to Mr Smith, who has asked for them urgently.
Before Mr Smith's ministerial appointment he was a member of the local government and environment select committee. The committee now comprises National Party MPs Maggie Barry, Jacqui Dean, Paul Goldsmith, Phil Heatley, Louise Upston and Nicky Wagner; Green Party MPs Gareth Hughes and Eugenie Sage; Labour Party MPs Raymond Huo, Moana Mackey and Maryan Street; and New Zealand First MP Andrew Williams.
