Rurawhe Adrian: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRurawhe Adrian: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 16 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4439. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru): I rise to take a call in this debate the second reading of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill. I have been listening very carefully to the contributions from both sides of the House. I think that the folks at home might be forgiven for not knowing who to blame as to why we are actually here tonight. I am here to tell you that it is the Government’s fault. It is absolutely the Government’s fault. It was told when the original Act was passed that we would be back in this House fixing it up. It could very well be called the “Fix It Up Bill” because that is why we are here right now to pass this legislation—to make it the best that it can be because when it was first brought to this House it was not. We have heard kōrero in this House tonight that points the blame at the industry as well to Shell Todd Oil Services. I do not think any business should be blamed for operating within the law that exists. I do not think it can be blamed for why this amendment bill is now required. It was acting totally within the law as it stands right now and that is why it needs to be changed.It is not the first time we have had to debate bills in this House that have come back. There were 34 bills in the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) earlier in this Parliament and there have been others as well. This Government is creating a little legacy for itself I think. It is a legacy that says we did not get it right the first time because we rushed it through the House and now we have brought it back here to fix it up. Labour will be supporting this bill because of that fact. We cannot afford for the Māui Gas platform to shut down while the Government gets its act together. That is not going to work for our economy. That is not going to work for the jobs that Joanne Hayes in her contribution talked about. I can tell you that in the meetings I have had in my electorate in Taranaki people there are very worried in the oil industry. There have been a number of job losses in this sector and I think these kinds of measures that we have to bring back to the House only serve to highlight that there are problems out in the regions. In a meeting that I had along with a number of my colleagues in New Plymouth on Friday last those sorts of issues were raised with us. It is not the best use of time in this House. We could be debating much more important issues if the Government had got this Act right in the first place.This bill which is a lot better than the bill that was presented for first reading—and I want to acknowledge the work done by all of the members of the select committee in improving this beyond measure. Now we have a situation that can work. It can work for the industry and it can certainly work for employees who might be worried about their jobs. They might be worried because if this legislation were not here then the Māui Gas platform might just shut down for days or weeks waiting for an application to be processed. I do not know if there are going to be objections but certainly with these procedures a 9-month window for applications to be processed should have been included in the bill in the first place.Our economy the New Zealand economy would do a lot better if we could get these procedures to be much more succinct in the first instance. Our international reputation—people around the world are surely looking at us and thinking: “What on earth are they doing? Why didn’t they get it right in the first instance?”. We find ourselves here and I cannot help but compare it to other things that are happening or not happening with the Government. I think it just shows that the Government is out of touch and I think it shows that the Government is arrogant.I have to agree with the comments from the New Zealand First member Ron Mark when he raised the issue and compared it to what was happening in terms of housing and Ngāti Whātua whom I met with last week as well. They are very concerned with these exact issues—that you could have a set of rules or set of principles that you might want to uphold for a piece of legislation like this one the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill here which we are debating here but you can have a different set of rules for someone else. The feedback that I get from my constituents around issues such as this is that it is just not fair. So I really encourage the members opposite to think really carefully about some of these bills that they rush through the House. This one is a prime example and I think there might be more. I think it is really important that we voice those concerns on behalf of our constituents.I will talk a bit more about Shell Todd Oil Services which owns and operates the Māui Gas platform. As I understand it the company applied for the marine consent but there is just not enough time for that to be processed. This piece of legislation is about providing more time basically from my point of view—more time for a process that was flawed in the first instance. So I wonder whether this is not the last time that this Act is going to be amended. I think from what I understand that there are other instances as well that could cause this to be reviewed in the future. In spite of the concerns that we might have about what will happen with this Act in the future it is better bill than it was at the first reading and that is why we will support this bill. Thank you.