ACT has proposed shifting responsibility for game animals on conservation land from the Department of Conservation (DOC) to the Game Animal Council. Deputy leader Nicole McKee announced the policy at the Hunting & Wildlife Expo on 25 July 2026 (RNZ).

The party's conservation spokesperson, Cameron Luxton, said hunting groups were already contributing hundreds of hours to conservation work, including track and hut maintenance and predator control. ACT's argument, set out in a policy paper titled "Hunters, Not Bureaucrats, Should Lead Conservation," is that recreational hunting itself delivers conservation benefits by keeping game animal populations in check (ACT Party; Scoop).

The Game Animal Council was set up in 2013 to advise on hunting matters. ACT wants to expand its role beyond consultation and fund it with money currently allocated to DOC for managing game animals (RNZ).

The policy package includes several legislative measures. ACT wants game animal and game-bird species recognised in law as "natural resources to be sustainably managed." Certain herds, such as Stewart Island whitetail deer, would be designated as "Herds of Special Interest." The party also wants hunters rewarded for verified conservation results and improved access to public land for hunting (RNZ).

On enforcement, ACT proposes infringement offences for interfering with hunts, including through drones and helicopters (RNZ).

The proposal touches on a long-standing tension in New Zealand conservation. Introduced game animals such as deer are both a recreational resource and a documented threat to native forest regeneration. DOC currently treats them mainly as pests to be controlled, particularly in priority conservation areas. Hunters, through the Game Animal Council and groups like the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, have long argued that managed herds can coexist with conservation goals and that local knowledge is underused.

ACT's framing attempts to bridge that gap by giving game animals statutory recognition as resources alongside conservation obligations, with accountability tied to verified results rather than bureaucratic oversight. The proposal to redirect DOC funding to the Game Animal Council would shift decision-making over herd management on conservation land — a significant structural change if advanced through legislation.

The broader context here is the coalition dynamic. ACT sits alongside National and NZ First in the coalition government, and conservation policy on public land has historically required careful negotiation between competing interests. Whether this proposal gains traction in the coalition agreement process, or remains an ACT positioning document ahead of the next election cycle, will depend on whether National in particular is willing to accept a structural reduction in DOC's responsibilities over species management on the conservation estate.