Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's an angry sensation I feel today when we've had this policy announced because it is more evidence of this Government thoughtlessly knocking out the foundations of New Zealand's economic success that we've enjoyed over these past few years. This is an economy that has been going well and delivering jobs for New Zealanders—hard-working New Zealanders—having given them the opportunity to get ahead in their own lives. And day after day week after week we are seeing this Government—I would say systematically but it's not systematic; it's thoughtless—knocking out the foundations of that economic success.I look across the hall to David Parker the Minister for Economic Development and I remember him in the debate in the Epsom electorate where he would stand up and he would say New Zealand is a rich country. We're one of the richest countries in the history of the world. We can afford to do X and Y because we are a rich country."—never a thought to the fact that it is not actually written in stone that New Zealand is a rich country and that every day we have to go out and earn it in a tough world and earn our living.One of the ways that we may earn our living in this country is in the oil and gas sector and we have done that for a number of years. That is a sector that generates $1.5 billion of export revenue a year. Forty-two percent of the profits of the broader sector are brought back to New Zealand and it creates a fuel that is used by 280000-odd industrial users and private users and residential users to cook their food and to warm themselves with a heater and it creates an enormous amount of jobs in the New Zealand economy—some estimates of 7000 full-time jobs in Taranaki; the rest are mainly in Wellington and in Auckland. And we heard Mr Jones talking about the fact that his focus is shifting the economy to areas where there are higher-paying jobs. Well this is one of the areas where there are higher-paying jobs in New Zealand. The average income is $105000—twice the New Zealand average—and it is one of the highest paying areas.So here we are. We're taking this important part of the economy and saying that well we're not going to have any further exploration. I've been trying to find how many other countries in the world have taken that step. I've found four so far: France which is stopping it 40 years from today Belize Costa Rica and Ireland. New Zealand I understand will be the fifth.Hon Dr Megan Woods: That's what's called leadership.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Yes you could call it leadership or you could call it recklessness with the New Zealand economy. It's only jobs—it's only people's livelihoods that we're talking about here!Hon Grant Robertson: Have you got no ambition?Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: We have ambition to earn a living in this country.The Prime Minister can go and get her photo op in England next week. It will be one of the most expensive photo opportunities for this country in a very long time because the consequences are huge. We've heard so many speeches saying "Oh it doesn't matter. Nothing's gonna happen for years. We've got decades. This decision is just sending a signal and it won't have any impact for 11 years or two decades because there's all this stuff." That shows no understanding of the reality of the economy. People are right now having to decide whether to invest in this industry—whether to take their capital and risk it in further investment in the New Zealand economy in Taranaki and in many of the other areas that they've had access to over the past few years. I'm not saying that tomorrow everybody's going to disappear—of course not—but they are less likely to make future investments in this industry and there is inevitably a serious consequence for the opportunities in that region.Why would you invest serious money in this sector when the Government has said there's no future in it? They are much less likely to make investments—Chlöe Swarbrick: It wouldn't. That's the point.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: —and it is going to have direct consequences for the livelihoods. Yes that is indeed the point. Thank you very much. That is the point. There will be no more investment or less investment in the sector over the next little while and we won't have the opportunity so we will just knock out one of the struts of the strong New Zealand economy that we've enjoyed.Then we come to Shane Jones the so-called champion of the regions. I do feel sorry for "Matua Shane" because his facial expressions today revealed the inner tensions of this Government. It must be dispiriting for him. He has been given $3 billion to walk around the country to hand out cash and to be the hero in the regions. He is going to be the hero in the regions. He's going to give them the money and give the regions what they want but the money that he gives no way makes up for what will be drawn out of the regions by the series of Government decisions that have been made. Today is just one of the latest. So we have this bizarre idea that going to New Plymouth and giving them $150000 to do some studies on clean energy somehow makes up for fundamentally undermining what is one of the largest pieces of their economy. When the mayor of the local region says it's a kick in the guts for Taranaki I believe him more than I believe Shane Jones or Megan Woods or any of the others.What we're seeing is the incoherent nature of this Government and it was very strange to hear Shane Jones talking about how this somehow demonstrated coherence. It doesn't demonstrate coherence. It means that on one day he goes into a region gives them a little bit of money and says "You should be grateful." and on the next day another Minister from the Greens or Labour comes along and says "Oh by the way we're stopping a big part of your economy." Where's the coherence in that? It's been repeated in so many other ways. We've had Shane Jones saying "We're going to invest in the regions." and the next day Phil Twyford goes along and says "But we're taking a whole lot of money out for rural transport. We're not going to build any roads of national significance any more because we don't like them." Or when Shane Jones goes and says "We're going to invest—SPEAKER: Order! Back to the debate.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: The broader point that I was making is the incoherence of the Government's policy and this oil and gas decision that we've seen today is a prime example of the fact that they don't have a coherent economic development strategy for this country. And we see it time and time again. The classic example is foreign investment.Hon Member: Well wait and see.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: And yes we'll wait and see. We'll be very interested to see the GDP figures and the estimates of those coming out over the next little while to see how the New Zealand economy responds. It's only money of course; yes it's only jobs. That might not be so important but it is important to the people that have the jobs and who need the money to pay for their children and to pay for their kids.My colleagues have pointed out the folly I suppose of this decision from the environmental point of view in the sense that it will increase the likelihood that New Zealand will have to import gas from around the world. I've let them make the point but the broader point that I'm trying to make is that this is just another example of a Government that takes New Zealand's economic prosperity for granted and is thoughtlessly knocking out the foundations of that success that we've enjoyed.To the New Zealanders out there who are sort of wondering about the consequences of all this I'd say to them to just be careful about the impact of these decisions. It's a very easy thing to say "Oh well we'll stop looking for oil and gas." Well most people actually use oil and gas and will continue to for some time. It's an industry that's important to our economy. If you put the signal that you've put out today there will inevitably be far less investment in that sector over time. It won't just cruise along on autopilot for the next decade like it started. It won't just cruise along because people who are making investment decisions will be far less likely to invest and the consequences will be that the regions of New Zealand will go backwards as a result of this. And yet at the same time the Government is running around talking about being the champions of the regions and yet the policies that they bring in are pulling in the complete opposite direction. So this is yet another example of a Government that is incoherent both economically and morally."