David Williams

And in terms of dock and its huge priorities, you would think that its priorities are on the mainland.

And for a place like dock, because it has had to cut its budget, it's struggling with maintaining a huge network of tracks and structures and huts.

And so it is having to pick and choose what it's doing.

And if you're a cynical person, you would say it chooses fluffy,

feathery type things that resonate well with the public.

Things like Kia, things like Kiwi.

And the plant species that might not be a front of mind and many people who would never see those plant species maybe don't get the love and attention that they deserve.

But if you start with that as a premise, you kind of wonder, well, you're just in a downward spiral and eventually all species will end.

So you've got to hold your line and it's a matter of conservation department deciding where that line is and then the public deciding whether that's acceptable or not.

Well, I think the impression I get is that they feel that dock doesn't have the presence it should.

And part of that is having boots on the ground.

If people have a problem, they want to be able to know who to go to to sort that out.

And in a place like the Chathams, there are all sorts of things that happen and they don't necessarily come to mind.

Yes, you've got conservation work.

You need to do the predator fencing.

You need to kill the predators and that kind of thing.

But there's also things like whale strandings.

And so people need to have the equipment and the knowledge available.

to be able to deal with those things because they do happen periodically and it falls to DOC to do that.

And there are question marks over whether, I've seen some conservation board minutes and they suggest that there is a change to the whale stranding programme on the Chathams because things weren't done properly.