Hughes Gareth: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHughes Gareth: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 16 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9374. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. I rise to oppose the legislation arising from the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill. I am opposing it because of the content—these are bad bills passed through a bad process—but more important I think because of its impact on core Kiwi values which is that we love our conservation estate we love our natural environment and we want to protect it. It goes against our values as well because it contains an egregious amendment the “Anadarko amendment” which goes against a core Kiwi value that we can make our world a better place and we can do the right thing. And we have stood up for so many progressive causes over the decades in New Zealand. This goes against the Kiwi value to do the right thing and protest.Thirdly I also rise to oppose it because of the economic strategy that is behind these bills that are about to become law. The “drill it mine it frack it” approach to economic development—this dirty old-fashioned 19th century economic agenda—is not delivering for our economy. That is why we have got the worst-ever economic performance in over 50 years. The plan is in tatters with oil companies like Petrobras and Apache Corporation leaving the country. We see others like Anadarko delaying their activity. What this country is crying out for is real tangible positive economic solutions. That is what I will seek to talk about in this short call.Firstly I want to raise some comments on this legislation and to look at the “Anadarko amendment” before looking at some those positive economic solutions that we need for Aotearoa New Zealand. Firstly the legislation does have some positive amendments. We would like to thank the submitters and the Commerce Committee for including those. They include the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy recommendations. The legislation now includes the ability to put a moratorium on certain mining types. However there are many and numerous problems with this legislation.The whole purpose of the legislation is where it is flawed and where it goes wrong. The concrete foundations are cracked. We see the whole purpose as being about picking winners in this one sector: oil gas fracking and mining. It is about disempowering communities. It is about weakening the powers role and ambit of the conservation Minister. We now see the Minister of Energy and Resources involved in access agreements. We see the changing role of the Minister of Energy and Resources. His job is now to attract permit applications. We see changes to schedule 4 where now for the decisions on what should be included or taken out the control is being given to Cabinet in an unprecedented fashion. We know where this Cabinet is going to go. It is lengthening permits which is convenient for the mining industry. That is the agenda: it is trying to support the mining industry trying to pick winners. It is a lazy economic gamble hoping that someone else—mostly foreign-controlled companies—will find something in the soil. They will benefit yet we know that in terms of royalties taxes and jobs—these are the other sectors of our economy—Kiwis and the New Zealand economy are not going to be the winners.When we look at the “Anadarko amendment” Supplementary Order Paper 205 this is lawmaking at its worst. We are picking a specific industry to get specific legalprotections that no other industry gets. It is an amendment to legislation that was passed under a hasty process. It was introduced on Easter Sunday there was no select committee hearing and no New Zealand Bill of Rights Act vet yet we see the Government coming in and attacking some eminent New Zealanders like former Prime Ministers the current New Zealander of the Year and eminent legal professionals. It is an absolutely shocking performance from the Minister of Energy and Resources and the Attorney-General. We see the amendment substantively trying to turn the New Zealand military into the private security forces of the oil and gas sector.It is egregious and abhorrent legislation. It goes against those core Kiwi values but what gives me hope is why the Government is introducing it. It is introducing it because it is scared because it knows that protesting works. It worked in terms of Petrobras. Although the criminal penalties have been increased we know that this is just going to go down as a challenge to those people in New Zealand who love and want to protect our marine environment. You are going to see more protests as a result of this legislation than you did before. They want to protest because they want to stand up for a clean smart economy. That is what PricewaterhouseCoopers is talking about. With its recent estimate we could be earning $22 billion. This is what the successful business leaders are talking about when they say we could be building 50000 jobs in clean energy. This is what other people are saying: we could be saving $600 million a year in terms of electricity savings by moving to a 100 percent renewable energy sector.This is our vision for our economy not flogging off the assets and not digging them up—mining fracking and drilling. It is about investing in our sustainable brand. It is about building prosperity that is long term not the boom-and-bust cycle Catherine Delahunty talked about. It is about a real smart sustainable vision and that is what we are inspired by what we are motivated about and what we are standing up for in this Parliament. We are going to keep doing it Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Lands) Bill or not. We are standing up for a smart—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member’s time has expired.