Green Party co-leader James Shaw has launched a plan for a tourist levy to help reach a 2050 goal of New Zealand being predator-free.

A tourist levy pitched by Labour and the Greens to help fund a predator-free New Zealand could turn off travellers from coming here, the Government says.

Green Party co-leader James Shaw announced on Thursday a "taonga levy" to be paid by all international tourists to help fund a predator-free New Zealand by 2050 and to boost the Regional Tourism Facilities Fund.

The levy will be a $14 to $18 addition and once combined with the existing border clearance levies, will bring total levies paid by international visitors to approximately $40.

KEVIN STENT/FAIRFAX NZ Government last month released a policy to eradicate pests by 2050 at Zealandia. Minister Steven Joyce, Prime Minister John Key and Minister Maggie Barry get up close with the fauna.

"We were always reluctant to go out with that goal of predator-free because we sort of feel like there's a higher threshold for the Greens where we can't just make announcements without substance. We get caned for that sort of thing whereas the Government does it all the time.

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"We get people saying, 'those bloody Greens just want to close down the economy so they can save all the trees'," Shaw said.

Prime Minister John Key formally adopted a target of 2050 to eradicate New Zealand of all pests that threaten native birds last month, along with a $28 million funding injection into a joint venture company to kickstart the campaign.

Key said the private sector has been undertaking its own review of whether a tourist levy would work.

"That could apply in a variety of different ways and what I've been saying as minister of tourism is that we're not discouraging them from looking at the issue. When we get their results and findings and recommendations we'll go away and consider whether we want to adopt that or not," he said.

Shaw said the levy would still be lower than the NZ$58 border charge to enter Australia, or the NZ$127 that the UK charges visitors.



The levy will be split 70/30 between the pest-free policy and the facilities fund - by 2050 the levy will have generated $1.5 billion and for the facilities fund it will raise a contribution of $20 million per annum versus the $3m the Government is currently investing.

"The Government failed to back up its glitzy predator-free promise with the money to get the job done. The Taonga Levy will help make it actually happen.

"They make these big flashy announcements in order to look good rather than solve the problem," Shaw said.

However Key denies that the funding for a predator-free New Zealand hasn't been thought through and says if a tourist levy was to be introduced it wouldn't be spent on that policy.

"If we were to progress a levy of some sort, whatever it looked like, we would really probably strongly argue it would be largely about tourism infrastructure or maybe some more marketing."

'KILLING GOOSE THAT LAID GOLDEN EGG'

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry welcomed the Greens' support for the predator-free project, but said the levy proposal was "half-baked, ill-thought through [and] poorly conceived".

The "taonga levy" would nearly double the current fees for tourists, could be a "big deterrent" to those who wanted to come to New Zealand, Barry said.

"Tourism is a huge earner for us, it's overtaken dairy now as a major earner for New Zealand - we don't want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg."

The Government had already been "inundated" with messages from individual philanthropists and foundations keen to support the predator-free project, and was setting up a Crown-owned group to take donations.

"Businesses, communities, volunteer groups will join forces with the government to make this happen," Barry said.

The Government considered introducing a tourist levy back in 2010/11 but Key said they backed away from the idea because the economy and tourist numbers were weak at that time.

Key said there is "potentially some merit" in a levy but he would want to be sure it didn't deter tourists from coming to New Zealand and the revenue from it was spent in the right place.

'PATHETIC' FUNDING FOR GOVT PROJECTS

Labour leader Andrew Little was consulted on the Greens proposal this week, as per their agreement under the Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this year.

He dismissed any suggestion this was the Greens siding with National given Labour also supported both policies but the funding allocated to them was "pathetic".

A tourist levy was a sensible way to fund Government policies that had merit but hadn't received the investment commitment they deserved, Little said.

That sentiment is shared by Shaw who said Kiwis want stability and an assurance that projects will be seen through over time, regardless of who is in Government.

PHILANTHROPY ENOUGH?

At the time Key announced the predator-free policy he said the private sector and philanthropy would contribute to making it a reality.

Shaw said a "super-wealthy philanthropist" looking at the policy would be reluctant, based on the monetary commitment from the Government at this point.

"But if you can say there's a reliable revenue stream for the next 25 years which amounts to a significant investment...then I'm much more likely to open my own wallet and get in behind that."

Shaw expected some backlash for the levy but given tourist numbers are expected to reach 4.5 million in the next six years, it was unlikely to have a significant impact.