Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty swapped her Beehive-friendly formal shoes for a pair of red-bands when she hiked up Mount Karangahake this afternoon.

She has declared her support for the local community currently opposing mining in the heart of conservation land in the Karangahake Gorge, on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Catherine says she made the special visit because she wanted locals to know there was strong support behind them, stretching all the way to parliament.

'These people are on the frontline for the rest of Aotearoa New Zealand right now.

'I want them to know we've got their backs – mining on conservation land should not be happening anywhere, and this community is standing up for the rest of the country when they say no to the desecration of their mountain.”

She and locals walked up to the prospecting site where a gate, usually open to the public, had been locked and security put in place after mine prospecting began two weeks ago.

Catherine says she is upset to see conservation land shut to the public.

'There shouldn't be gates, barbed wire and security on conservation land protecting toxic industry.”

'In 2010, 25,000 New Zealanders marched to demand conservation land be protected from mining. The government is betraying their values in allowing this to happen on DoC land.”