Norman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Norman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Sitting date: 23 October 2012. Volume:685;Page:6030. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
1. 
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: At his meeting with the boss of American oil giant Anadarko in November 2011 was the issue of making deep sea oil drilling a permitted activity under the EEZ legislation raised? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 No. My memory of the meeting is that it was a courtesy call by the head of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation to express his interest in New Zealand in relation to what it may or may not want to do here. Secondly it was an opportunity for an update on its activities internationally. He gave me a review of what happened in the gulf. As for the member’s assertion that it was a secretive meeting I hate to tell him the bad news but it happened in the afternoon in Government offices. By the way I had to walk along Queen Street to go in there. When you are on TV every night a few people notice it and there were a whole lot of civil servants working up there so it was not that secretive. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Will he rule out making deep-sea oil-drilling a permitted activity under the exclusive economic zone legislation regulations currently being drafted meaning that it will not require a resource consent? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No and that is because we are in the process of going through the public consultation that the member referred to. At the point at which that consultation is completed and Cabinet has some advice it will then need to make a decision about what happens next. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Given that under the exclusive economic zone legislation permitted activities can proceed as of right with almost no oversight how will the public councils and iwi have a say on specific deep-sea drilling proposals if the Government makes it a permitted activity? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No. I think the member is misleading Parliament. In fact if something was permitted there would still be quite considerable— 
Dr Russel Norman 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is quite a serious allegation to suggest that I am misleading Parliament. I was simply giving my interpretation of how the law works. The Prime Minister is perfectly able to contradict me if he disagrees. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The wording the Prime Minister used is very interesting. The issue arose just last week around the use of false information. The Prime Minister did not say the member intentionally misled Parliament. The Prime Minister just said the member was misleading Parliament—in other words providing information that in the Prime Minister’s view was incorrect. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: In my opinion the member is misleading Parliament with that claim. There would still be an enormous amount of conditions that would apply for a permitted activity. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Can the Prime Minister confirm that there may well be conditions but if it is a permitted activity under the exclusive economic zone legislation—the regulations or the Act—there will be no need for a public consultation about specific deep-sea drilling activities? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: It would be too early to conclude that. That is what the public consultation and the process we are going through at the moment is all about. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Is he aware that Anadarko Petroleum Corporation had a 25 percent stake in the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico spill and that under his proposal as a permitted activity it will be able to drill at similar levels in New Zealand waters without getting a resource consent? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I think the first thing that is important is that whatever the rules are that apply in the exclusive economic zone—and this Government is actually filling a gap that previous Governments failed to fill—they should apply to all companies irrespective of their history. Yes it is true that Anadarko Petroleum Corporation had a 25 percent ownership of the company or one of the companies that had a problem in the gulf. I think it is also worth remembering that in the Gulf of Mexico since 1947 50000 wells have been drilled and to the best of my knowledge that problem in the gulf was the one major one that most people can remember. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: What is the point of having an environmental legislative regime for our exclusive economic zone if the Government is going to enable and allow companies to conduct risky activities there without the scrutiny of the resource consent process as would be the case if it was a permitted activity? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: It depends on a number of factors—for a start off about whether it is an exploration well or whether it is major drilling that is taking place. But there are also as I said earlier significant conditions that will still apply even if an activity is permitted. This is a Government that is actually filling the gap that was left as a void where there were no rules applying and making sure that they do apply. In the case of Taranaki as has been the case for a very long period of time actually drilling an exploration well there has been a permitted activity for a very long period of time and to the best of my knowledge it is very successful. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Is the Prime Minister aware that Deepwater Horizon was an exploration well in deep water which resulted in massive pollution and how can it make sense to require New Zealanders to apply for a consent to construct a deck in their backyard but companies involved in risky deep-sea drilling do not require a resource consent from this Government? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Deep water is only one factor when it comes to whether a drill operation can actually take place. There are many other factors that one would want to consider. If the member is saying that just because it is deep water drilling under even very good conditions cannot take place that is about as bright as his idea to print money. I happen to have with me a $100 billion Zimbabwean note which for the record when they printed this bought you about a bumper box from Kentucky Fried Chicken and a couple of bottles of Coke. That idea was not very good and this idea of stopping all drilling around New Zealand is not either. 
Moana Mackey 
: In his meeting with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation did they discuss whether or not the Environmental Protection Authority is planning to contract out all or part of the offshore monitoring and compliance functions including the possibility of industry self-regulation as recently revealed on the  
Energy News 
website—functions that the Local Government and Environment Committee was assured would be carried out by the authority? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: I seek leave to table a paper from the International Monetary Fund recommending that small open economies target the exchange rate as well as inflation for their monetary policy. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] Order! The member has a right to call a point of order and to seek leave to table a document. Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection. 









Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Rt Hon John Key 
: I seek leave to table my $100 billion Zimbabwean note because it is not really worth much anyway even when they printed it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? Did I hear objection? I did hear objection. There is objection.