Or at least acutely embarrassed.

On Thursday, here’s how they defended to Hawke’s Bay Today  their Government’s legislative assault on DoC conservation land:

“Napier MP Katie Nimon said claims that the bill threatens beloved places of conservation and recreation like the Ahuriri Estuary or Boundary Stream were ‘wrong and blatant scaremongering’.

‘National parks, marine reserves and valued conservation land stay fully protected,’ Nimon said.

Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd said the Department of Conservation (DoC) was not trying to sell conservation land, and the bill did not establish a programme of land sales.

‘Conservation remains DoC’s core purpose, and resources should be focused on protecting the places, species and habitats that matter most,’ Wedd said.

Unfortunately, at the same time at Government/National Party headquarters in Wellington, someone must have already been working on fresh talking points for them (we concede our local MPs have nothing to do with policy).

Because on Friday, National Party Spokesperson for Conservation (and Conservation Minister) Tama Potaka issued this statement:

“New Zealanders care deeply about conservation – so does National and so do I. We know how important our pristine landscapes, national parks, marine reserves, and wilderness areas are to New Zealanders.

“But we were not clear enough about how the Conservation Amendment Bill improves outcomes for conservation – so we are fixing it.

“We have listened and heard the clear concerns about the proposed amendments for disposal or exchange of conservation land – so I am removing those provisions from the bill.”

This after Minister Potaka met with the Environmental Defence Society and Forest and Bird and agreed the disposal and exchange parts of the bill would be removed.

“We have listened,” he commented. More appropriately he might have said, “What a monumental policy and political F-U!” You can be sure someone at National HQ certainly said that.

Bringing this ‘bigger picture’ home to Hawke’s Bay for illustration, MPs Wedd and Nimon are perfectly at ease with transferring the DoC conservation land that Ruataniwha Dam 2 advocates need to flood to allow that project to be resurrected.

That’s the kind of proposal the uproar over this bill is all about.