Woods MeganCROWN MINERALS (PETROLEUM) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): I move That the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Environment Committee to consider this bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move the bill be reported to the House by 29 October 2018 and that the committee has authority to meet at any time except during oral questions during every evening on a day where there is—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! I apologise to the Minister. The wording is not quite as I have it here.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Right. OK.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I'm happy to share the wording that I have.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: OK. No I'll—no I have it here too.I nominate the Environment Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 29 October 2018 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting—CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Thank you.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: —except during oral questions during an evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 191 193 and 194(1)(b) and (c).I am incredibly proud to rise to speak on this bill today. This bill is about having the courage and a vision as a Government to lift our eyes above the three-year electoral cycle and to think about the next 10 years the next 20 years the next 30 years and the next 40 years. In April the Prime Minister announced that this Government would not be granting any new offshore oil and gas exploration permits but that we would be protecting existing permits and the rights associated with them. With this bill we make good on that commitment. With this bill we are taking the first steps on a 30-year to 40-year journey: a planned measured just transition towards a low-carbon economy. The bill contains amendments to the Crown Minerals Act 1991 that will give effect to the Government's policy announcement on the future of offshore petroleum permitting.The long-term picture is this: the world is changing climate change is happening and with that change our planet and our economies are changing. The world is racing to adapt and to stop its most damaging effects. This means that the same old ways of doing things don't work anymore. We cannot expect to rely on fossil fuels for our jobs and prosperity for ever. The world is moving away from them and we as a country have to be ready. If we don't change if we keep relying on these fuels we're going to be left behind.We're setting ourselves up for economic shocks. We've seen this happen before when the economy changes over night without a plan. We saw it in the UK in the 1980s when coalmines closed overnight and with it the devastation of communities. We saw it here in the 1980s in New Zealand with the radical reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. I saw it in my own community growing up in south Christchurch. Parents of my friends lost their jobs at the Addington rail yards. With that they lost their hope and their dignity. I will not be part of a Government that refuses to put in place the long-term planning to ensure New Zealanders never have to endure that again.When economies undergo rapid changes without a plan businesses suffer communities get hurt and people are left on the scrap heap. We won't let that happen again. This Government will not allow New Zealand to become a place that pulls the rug out from under workers and businesses and communities because we don't have the foresight or the courage to plan ahead. And that's why we are acting here tonight. We are planning a long-term managed transition over the next 30 years to 40 years towards home-grown clean energy that will create jobs. That will ensure that regions and communities which currently rely on fossil fuels for their prosperity have a path to prosperity for decades to come.This bill is an important part of that plan. It gives legal effect to the Government's 12 April decision. It will limit new petroleum prospecting exploration and mining permits to the onshore Taranaki region only and it guarantees the protection of existing permits as we promised to do—permits that cover over a hundred thousand square kilometres of existing acreage. If a discovery is made that is commercially viable existing permit holders will still be able to apply for a subsequent petroleum mining permit in accordance with the Crown Minerals Act as it was prior to this bill coming into force. Existing rights and existing privileges under the existing Crown Minerals Act will be preserved. Preserving the rights and privileges of permit holders provides certainty to the industry around the Government's managed transition. Under this bill new onshore petroleum exploration permit holders will have their access to conservation land restricted to minimum impact activities. Permit holders will still be able to carry out activities below the surface of such land and in accordance with section 57 of the Crown Minerals Act.I want to thank New Zealand First and the Green Party for the support of the policy that underpins this bill. This coalition Government has found a pathway that protects existing permit holders while signalling a long-term transition away from the exploration and production of fossil fuels. To assist that pathway the Government has established a just transitions unit within the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to help prepare New Zealand for a future that will look different than it does today. Alongside this our support of the regions includes the $3 billion investment through the Provincial Growth Fund for new jobs and opportunities obviously being well shepherded through by the Hon Shane Jones. We're also supporting investment in smart low-carbon industries through the Green Investment Fund. With a Government kick-start investment of $100 million it aims to stimulate up to a billion dollars of new investments in innovative low-emission industries and that is work that the Hon James Shaw is leading.We're already seeing this plan pay dividends for our regions. The Provincial Growth Fund has already earmarked more than $21 million in funding for Taranaki including support for developing hydrogen as a zero-emission hydrogen fuel and transitional economy general manager.We know the same old arguments that will be rolled out from those who refuse to accept that the world is changing. The Opposition and the oil industries they roll out the tired 20th century arguments as we are well into the 21st century. They will tell us that New Zealand doesn't have to be a leader on climate change. They will say we can bury our head in the sand and lower our sights and just keep on doing the same things together. They will ask us to ignore the opportunities that come from a low-carbon economy like the fact that renewable energy is some of the cheapest in the world to produce and where the economic opportunities of the 21st century lie. They will tell us taking action will only drive production offshore asking us to pretend that the rest of world is standing still. Well the truth is that countries around the world are racing to tackle climate change.But on this side of the House we are not wedded to the tired arguments of the past. We know there is a better way. This is a Government with a long-term economic plan a plan for inclusive sustainable growth in the decades to come. The bill is an historic first step in helping move our economy towards 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035 and to a net zero economy by 2050.I will remember how proud I felt as an 11½-year-old in 1985 watching Prime Minister David Lange on the world stage arguing for the power of humanity over the power of nuclear weapons. As our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said climate change is this generation's nuclear-free moment our opportunity to once again lead the world to follow in this proud tradition of New Zealand as a bold visionary and progressive country and to begin the transition to a low-carbon economy that will create jobs and ensure prosperity.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I apologise to the member. Thank you. Your time has expired.