Young JonathanJONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): Thank you Madam Chair. I would like to come to clause 7 and speak to Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 150 in my name. As I go back to the announcement on 12 April the Prime Minister released a press statement and attached to that was a fact sheet. In that fact sheet she said—and the Minister in the chair has said it time and again—that permits will be protected. In that fact sheet it said Oil and gas permit holders have a number of existing rights under law which will continue following today's announcement including:"—and I'd just like to highlight one in particular—"Extensions of land to which the permit relates".Now there is a provision in the petroleum programme which states that if a permit holder has made a discovery the Minister will grant an extension of your land. So if you can imagine that they have a permit area for example the size of the Table in front of you Madam Chair and Minister and there was a discovery at the very edge of that. Then that company could go to New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals and go to the Minister and ask for an extension of land for that permit because the discovery of that field would extend beyond the permit. This says here in 12.4 of extension of land area of permit: "(4) If the permit holder has made a discovery the Minister will grant an extension of land subject to the holder agreeing to an appraisal work programme that is satisfactory to the Minister where the Minister is satisfied that: (a) the discovery extends beyond the boundary of the permit area".Now what we have is a promise from the Prime Minister reiterated by the Minister of Energy and Resources that now that we have a very constrained area which is onshore Taranaki region if there was a discovery on the boundary of that region with a field that extended beyond it it essentially means that they cannot fulfil their obligation and their word to the industry. So what I am proposing in this SOP is that the Minister may grant—if I can read out what I have in new subsection (2A): "However the land to which a permit for petroleum relates cannot be extended to include any land outside the onshore Taranaki region"—that's as it currently reads—"unless—(a) the extension only relates to land that is contiguous to the onshore Taranaki region;"—so that is land that is immediately connected to that boundary—"and (b) the discovery originated from permitted activity within the onshore Taranaki region."Now this is the status quo—this is as it presently is. So what I am saying is that that boundary of the Taranaki region ought to have some flexibility ascribed to it rather than be hard and fast in keeping with the Prime Minister's promise and the Minister of Energy and Resources' obligation that permit rights will be protected as was stated in the fact sheet attached to the Prime Minister's speech on 12 April.I don't think that is unreasonable to ask. It's extending what the Minister has prescribed in the bill but it's creating an ability for consideration. In fact in 12.4 of the Petroleum Programme it actually implies there that the Minister does have an obligation because what it states is that if a permit holder has made a discovery that extends beyond the boundary of a permit area "the Minister will grant". There is a further section that says that if a permit holder's application to an extension of land is based only on seismic or other geotechnical information and not an exact discovery then "the Minister may grant" and gives a lesser sense of obligation but certainly an obligation to consideration.So I am asking the Minister to consider this. This is a serious Supplementary Order Paper which I believe would give a degree of flexibility. The problem is that if they don't have this then will they explore within the closeness of the boundary? Probably not."