Mackey Moana: Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mackey Moana: Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 25 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5643. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I want to start off by saying that there is much in this Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill that is very very commendable. There are also some things that do concern the Labour Party. If I can start on the positive there is a lot in here that streamlines the system. I think that that will provide a lot more certainty for everyone involved in the process whether that be industry or whether that be those members of the community who want to have a say in mining projects that are going ahead particularly in the exclusive economic zone which is where a lot of the public concern is often around and where a lot of the contention exists. 
I think that one of the things that members are going to need to look at very seriously at the Commerce Committee is whether this piece of legislation does address a number of the concerns that were raised when the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill was going through the Local Government and Environment Committee. As the Minister of Energy and Resources well knows there are many many pieces of legislation that sit on top of each other all governing the same activity all for different reasons and it is a matter of making sure that nothing falls through the cracks between those pieces of legislation. Not only do we have this Crown minerals legislation which issues the permits that allow for the exploitation of the resources but also we have the exclusive economic zone legislation just recently passed into law which monitors and attempts to mitigate the environmental impacts of any economic activity that occurs in the exclusive economic zone including but not restricted to oil and gas exploration and mining. We have health and safety legislation we have biosecurity legislation and we have maritime legislation which are triggered in the event of anything going wrong. 
It is for the Commerce Committee to determine whether or not this piece of legislation is going to adequately compensate for the exclusive economic zone legislation because when we were at the select committee on that bill a lot of what we heard was: “Well you don’t need to worry about this because it will be picked up in the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill.” Certainly I know that I have had discussions with the Minister and it appears that a lot of those concerns have been picked up and it will be a matter of going through it far more carefully at the select committee. 
Can I say one other thing and that is that I am very appreciative that this piece of legislation is getting a decent time at the select committee—unlike the previous one that I mentioned. It really is important on these very technical process-driven bills that we get the time to go through and see what that looks like. We also have more of an idea now what the regulations are going to look like for the exclusive economic zone legislation which we did not have when that particular piece of primary legislation was going through. So we are in a far better-informed place to make decisions around this. 
The introduction of a two-tier system certainly seems sensible as does the idea of pre-vetting applicants so that those who simply are never going to make it through are told up front as early as possible not to bother. Hopefully that may allay the concerns of some of the people who are worried about what I think you can probably accurately call the lowest common denominator operators. It may be that at the very first hurdle they will be told “No do not bother.” Then we will not go through a very expensive and lengthy process of Resource Management Act consents and consents under this legislation where community organisations where members of the community and where environmental groups spend a lot of their time and money opposing permits that were probably never realistically going to get through in the first place. 
Where our concerns lie is again around the division of control of the conservation estate. We were not sure whether that was going to be in this piece of legislation. It is unfortunate that it is because that has been a big issue. The Minister of Conservation is rightly the person who should have the say on concessions on the Department of Conservation estate. A lot of the criticism of the treatment of mining on conservation land thus far has been that it does get an easier ride than for example tourist activities that go through the process under the Conservation Act whereas mining goes through a process under this particular piece of legislation that does not involve community consultation. 
The Government did promise that community consultation would happen for concessions for mining on Department of Conservation land. I note that it goes part of the way in this piece of legislation. The Minister of Energy and Resources and the Minister of Conservation have joint responsibility for deciding whether or not it goes to public consultation. That is not quite what was promised. What was promised was that just like any tourism operation that wants to get a concession on Department of Conservation land mining would also have to go through a similar process where the public could have their say— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. The time has come for me to leave the Chair. 
Debate interrupted.