Webb DuncanCROWN MINERALS AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs) on behalf of the Minister of Energy and Resources: I present a legislative statement on the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill. DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB: I move That the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill be now read a second time.The Government commenced a two-part review of the Crown Minerals Act 1991 in 2018. Tranche one of that review was completed later that year and it gave effect to the Government's policy to end future offshore petroleum exploration and confine any future onshore developments to the Taranaki region only. In progressing tranche two the Government decided to focus first on the biggest issues and risks: the Crown Minerals (Decommissioning and Other Matters) Amendment Act was passed in 2021. This strengthened the Crown Minerals Act (CMA) to help mitigate the risk to the Crown and other third parties from having to undertake and fund decommissioning in the future. No one wants to see a repeat of the events surrounding the Tūī oilfield where the operator liquidated and the Government had to step in and pick up the bill at the cost of the taxpayer. This bill aligns the Crown Minerals Act with wider Government policy while maintaining its current role which is for the economic development of Crown-owned minerals within New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders. This bill concludes tranche two of the review by proposing amendments to remove the promotional intent in the purpose of the Crown Minerals Act and to improve permit and licence holder engagement with iwi and hāpu. The bill also seeks to clarify decommissioning-related provisions. Before speaking about the bill's proposed changes to the purpose statement it's important to understand some of the context about the Crown Minerals Act and how it fits in with wider Government objectives. The Crown Minerals Act was amended in 2013 to attract investment in our petroleum and minerals sector. A purpose statement was added which is to promote prospecting for exploration for and mining of Crown owned minerals for the benefit of New Zealand." Since 2013 the strategic and wider regulatory environment in which the Crown Minerals operates has evolved. Climate change is an increasing focus as is the use of an intergenerational lens in decision making. New Zealand has domestic targets to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions with carbon emissions to reach net zero by 2050. We've set an aspirational target of 100 percent renewable electricity generation by 2030. Our 2022-25 emissions reduction plan sets out strategies and actions needed to contribute to the global effort to limit global warming. The Government is also progressing the development of the New Zealand Energy Strategy which will set the direction for New Zealand's path to a low-carbon economy and signal pathways away from fossil fuels. While fossil fuels continue to play an important role in keeping the lights on today we know the future will be bright and look different.Whilst it is important that the Crown Minerals Act sustains investor confidence to continue the development of Crown-owned minerals where appropriate its current focus on promotion allows limited flexibility in the choices available to the Crown particularly in the context of a transition away from fossil fuels. So this bill makes changes to the promotional intent. The main proposal is to change the word "promote" in the purpose statement to "manage". That will neither require nor prevent the development of Crown-owned minerals. The key intended effect of the removal of this promotional intent is to increase flexibility in relation to when and how often future public tenders for petroleum exploration permits take place. An updated Crown Minerals Act that no longer promotes the extraction of fossil fuels will sit better alongside Government policy that is moving New Zealand towards a greener low-emissions future but the Crown Minerals Act will continue to play an important role. These amendments will not change the fundamental role of the Crown Minerals Act which is to allocate development rights to Crown-owned minerals in a way that increases economic benefits to New Zealand. The Crown Minerals Act will continue to operate within a wider Crown minerals regulatory system that includes environment health and safety and climate change laws. The bill also proposes changes to improve permit and licence holder and permit applicant engagement with iwi and hapū. Feedback from iwi and hapū has been that engagement with permit and licence holders under the CMA is variable. Engagement with iwi and hapū is not always prioritised by permit and licence holders the quality of engagement is inconsistent and there can be a lack of transparency.The bill proposes a number of changes to create more certainty around engagement expectations. It proposes amendments that will provide iwi and hapū with opportunities to review and discuss annual iwi engagement reports that are currently required from tier 1 permit holders. It will enable regulations to specify minimum content requirements for those reports. It also proposes to clarify the feedback from hapū and iwi on past permit or licence holder engagement as a consideration when the Minister makes a permit allocation decision.The bill also makes decommissioning-related clarifications to support interpretation of the Crown Minerals (Decommissioning and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021. It is important that the provisions introduced through the 2021 Act are clear to enhance certainty to both industry and the New Zealand public. For these reasons the bill proposes to clarify that assessments can be carried out to consider a person's financial and technical ability to decommission and that decommissioning obligations apply to all persons regardless of status and apply to all persons such as applicants licence holders or transferees.The bill was referred the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee on 22 November 2022 and 334 written submissions and 17 oral submissions were made and I want to thank that excellent select committee for their work and consideration of this bill. I want to thank those who took the time to submit with all of their feedback.Four amendments to the law have been recommended by the select committee to address matters raised by submitters. First the select committee has recommended that a proposed change to the purpose statement actually be removed. That change would amend the focus of the purpose statement from "economic efficiency" to "administrative efficiency". Since administrative efficiency is already expected the select committee thought the proposed change does not add value and should instead be removed.Second the select committee has recommended an amendment to the provision relating to how the Minister considers feedback from iwi and hapū. The introduction version of the bill stated that "the Minister may consider feedback from iwi and hapū when assessing permit applications." The select committee recommended that "the Minister must have regard to feedback from iwi and hapū about the applicant's engagement where that is provided in engagement reports or in annual meetings and the Minister may have regard to other feedback." This change makes it clearer about how the Minister considers feedback from iwi and hapū when assessing permit applications.The third recommendation from the select committee is to delay commencement of one provision. The commencement date for all provisions in the introduction version of the bill was set to be the day after the bill receives Royal assent. The select committee recommended that the provision outlining how the Minister has regard to feedback from iwi and hapū comes into effect on 1 April 2024. This date aligns with the start of the next reporting year for engagement.The select committee considered that all stakeholders would benefit from some time to understand the proposed change and that it would also allow permit and licence holders some time to make changes to their engagement and reporting before they submit their next reports.The fourth and final recommendation from the select committee was that a regulation-making power should be added that allows for time frames to be prescribed when engagement reports are passed for permittable licence holders to iwi and hapū and back. That will give clarity to all those involved to streamline the feedback process.The select committee process has led to a better bill; I thank the select committee for that and I commend this bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."