Auchinvole Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Auchinvole Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:641;Page:11574] 
12.  
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Energy 
: Does he have confidence in Crown Minerals; if not why not? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN (Associate Minister of Energy) 
: 
 Yes but we can always hope for even better. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Are there any prerequisites that must be met before an application for a petroleum mining permit is granted and how long does that process normally take from application to the granting of the permit? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: Crown Minerals has of course very clear protocols for petroleum exploration and mining. We have obviously depending on the complexity of the particular proposal no fixed time but certainly each proposal is thoroughly considered and worked through with the applicant and then a decision is made yes or no. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Who normally signs the mining permits the Minister or Crown Minerals staff; and if it is the Minister himself does he have to satisfy himself that all prerequisites have been met by the applicant? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: In most cases Crown Minerals has delegated responsibility for the signing. However in all cases I receive a briefing on the proposal and what has been agreed to in terms of the mining permit. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: What persuaded him to become personally involved in signing a 40-year permit for Macdonald Investments to mine 170 square kilometres of the Grey Valley for coal gas just 1 month after the application was made with none of the normal prerequisites being met and with no evidence of a discovery? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: Macdonald Investments Ltd was actively involved in working its exploration permit throughout the permit period; it had an exploration permit. In particular the company significantly increased its levels of exploration activity from February 2006 and on receipt of an application for a mining permit Crown Minerals evaluated the proposal and was satisfied that the company had a commercial prospect and that its application satisfied the requirements for the due granting of a mining permit. 
Darien Fenton 
: How is Crown Minerals contributing to the economic development of New Zealand? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: Crown Minerals continues to increase its contribution to the economic development of New Zealand and the recent technology developments have put it at the forefront of international regulators in streamlining permitting processes and enabling greater access to geotechnical data. The recent Great South Basin blocks offer resulted in five petroleum exploration permits with something like $1.2 billion of exploration work over the next 5 years awarded to domestic and international consortiums. The figures from 2006 for the minerals industry show a value to the national economy of approximately $1.5 billion. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Why did he approve Macdonald Investments’ permits against the advice of Crown Mineral officials and in spite of Macdonald’s failure to comply with earlier permits when the Act states that he may grant a permit only if he is satisfied that the applicant will comply with the conditions? 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: The member is making quite a serious allegation; he is alleging some sort of impropriety on my part. I invite him to say that outside Parliament. Secondly the company itself made approaches to Crown Minerals asking that its previous problems in developing the permit be taken into account in not extinguishing the exploration permit. As a local member that member should have been aware—that is the first thing. The second is that the company employed a new and very able geologist to look again at its exploration data and decided to take the very unusual step of going directly from exploration to mining—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The member asked a question. It is a serious matter. All members in the House would like to hear the answer. 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN 
: The company took the very unusual step of going from an exploration permit directly into mining. It put forward a proposal to Crown Minerals saying it believed it had a good discovery at that point but not where it had previously believed it to be. The arguments put forward by the company are that it should not be made to drill where it had originally proposed but should be allowed to try to mine directly from the new site that its new geologist had proposed. If the member considers it to be some sort of impropriety to allow a company that had put a lot of investment into an area to continue with that investment then I invite him to consider what his role in this House is. If the member proposed the question not just in the general manner that he did but directly about the company I would be more than happy to come with more information and I would be more than happy to table it. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. You just reminded the House that this is a very serious matter. You further said that the House wanted to hear the answer. Both of those things are very true. The House did not hear an answer to the very direct question that was asked of Mr Duynhoven. The question was why he personally approved this extraordinarily large permit against the advice of his department. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: No the Minister more than addressed the question. [ 
Interruption 
] I listened very carefully to the answer that was given at length even though it was constantly interrupted. I consider that the Minister did address the question. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I would like to indicate to the House that should the Minister seek leave to give further information in this matter National would certainly not oppose that. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: As the member knows that is not a point of order. We have come to the end of the time for questions but we will come to members’ questions.