Norman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNorman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 24 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18776. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green)to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his Government’s decisions?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister):Yes.Dr Russel Norman: Does he stand by his Government’s decision to tender for oil exploration permits in over 3000 square kilometres of the West Coast North Island marine mammal sanctuary—a sanctuary that was established to protect the last 55 Māui’s dolphins left on planet Earth?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Yes. I am not surprised to see the Greens’ opposition to that because they are fundamentally opposed to everything but I was surprised to see the Labour leader come out and say that. The reason I say that is a very serious point. That is that 40 percent of New Zealand’s gas is included in Pohokura so one can only assume when that gasfield is closed down what will happen to gas prices for New Zealanders. There are 23 permits for oil being drilled there 18 of which were actually issued under a Labour Government. What the leader of the Labour Party is saying today—Grant Robertson: Point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Order!Grant Robertson: This time I think he can speak.Mr SPEAKER: Well I appreciate the comment from Grant Robertson.Dr Russel Norman: Does the Prime Minister understand that there is a difference in the risk to Māui’s dolphins from existing production wells—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member has a right to ask the question.Dr Russel Norman: Does the Prime Minister understand that there is a difference in the risk to Māui’s dolphins from existing production wells and his Government’s decision to add new risks to Māui’s dolphins from new seismic surveying and new drilling of exploratory wells which is what the Government has approved?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: In a sort of phrase I suppose what a load of nonsense. If that was absolutely correct then given that we have been drilling in the Taranaki region since the 1960s and there has never been a situation where a Māui’s dolphin has been killed as a result of that you would think it would have happened at some time in the last 50 years. It is just the mumbo-jumbo that the Greens go on about but—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Dr Russel Norman: Instead of the usual verbal abuse from the Prime Minister will he engage in the science—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Can I ask the member to simply ask the supplementary question.Dr Russel Norman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is one of the Standing Orders of question time that I can refer to the Minister’s answers. He chose to engage in that kind of attack which is his right. I chose to respond to it which is my right as well.Mr SPEAKER: I do not think that is strictly true. Many supplementary questions probably are not within the strict interpretation of the Standing Orders. The reason I am asking for the member’s assistance in just simply asking his question is that his initial comments created a lot of disorder so that none of the House could successfully hear the question. I invite the member to ask his supplementary question.Dr Russel Norman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Your ruling effectively says that if Government members start shouting very loudly you will rule the question out of order. That does not seem to me to be a very sound basis for ruling questions out of order.Mr SPEAKER: That is not what I am doing at all. I am trying to assist the member so that he can ask his question and at least it can be heard certainly by me and then I can judge whether it has been addressed. I am trying to assist the member.Dr Russel Norman: No you’re not.Mr SPEAKER: Well if the member does not want my assistance we will move to the next question.Dr Russel Norman: Will the Prime Minister for once engage in the science around the issue and is he aware that the world’s largest professional scientific body dedicated to research on marine mammals has asked the Government to stop going ahead with this seismic surveying with the new exploration because it is a threat to the very existence of Māui’s dolphin?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: What the member is saying is based on a load of mumbo-jumbo. He wants to close down Taranaki and the thousands of jobs that are supported there and what is incredible is that David Cunliffe wants to do that as well. Let us see what Andrew Little thinks about that—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! This is a point of order and it will be heard in silence.Grant Robertson: That is now the third answer in a row where the Prime Minister has breached the Standing Orders and you have been forced to stand up and bring him back into order. I wonder how long this will go on for.Mr SPEAKER: Hopefully three times is enough. I hope so.Dr Russel Norman: Does he stand by Nick Smith and by his comments when Nick Smith told the House last week that there had been no sightings of Māui’s dolphins in the oil exploration area?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not have those details to hand but what I do know is that there has not been a single recorded incident involving a Māui’s dolphin and the oil and gas industry in the last 40 years in the Taranaki region.Dr Russel Norman: I seek leave to table a map prepared by the Green Party research unit which overlays the sightings—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The tabling of documents is to inform members; it is not to reinforce a political point that has been made.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That is a new piece of information that should or could be of interest to the House. I do not see that it is at all political.Mr SPEAKER: Well the easiest way to sort this out is that I will put the leave if that is what the member wants and then the House can decide. Leave is sought to table this particular map. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is objection.Dr Russel Norman: How can he be confident that his Ministers and his Government are making the right decision with regard to new oil exploration in the Māui’s dolphin sanctuary when the Minister of Conservation is entirely wrong when he states that there have not been sightings of Māui’s dolphins in the oil exploration area when the evidence is to the contrary?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government is very confident of the advice on which it based the decisions for the block offers. What I would say to New Zealanders is this: if a Labour-Greens administration gets into power and it closes down every gasfield and every oil field in Taranaki it will be to the cost of New Zealand consumers it will be to the cost of the environment and it is called—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have heard enough.Dr Russel Norman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Robertson raised with you the issue—Mr SPEAKER: Is this a point of order?Dr Russel Norman: Yes. Mr Robertson raised with you the issue of the Prime Minister repeatedly abusing the Standing Orders in his answers. I would ask you to address Mr Robertson’s point.Mr SPEAKER: I do not believe—[Interruption] I will listen to the Prime Minister.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Stating a fact which is what I am doing is not abusing the Standing Orders. It is quite germane to the answer. The member has asked me about essentially closing down oil and gasfields in the Taranaki. I am simply pointing out that there is wide support in the Opposition to do that and it would have an extremely large impact on the people of Taranaki.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! It is open to members how long they are here for question time. I will hear from the Hon David Parker.Hon David Parker: What is going on here is an assertion by the Prime Minister that is propaganda under the guise of question time which is meant by you to be controlled to factual answers to questions asked not speculation about other parties’ policies.Mr SPEAKER: I think the member makes a point except that when I listened to the question the assertion from the member who asked the question was that a particular Minister had been wrong in information that he had given. So I think that widened the answer. I do not believe—[Interruption] Order! I am getting to the stage where I am going to have to ask the Hon David Parker to shortly leave the Chamber. I do not want to do that but when I am on my feet ruling and I am hearing constant interjections from the Hon David Parker that must cease. The question was addressed. I invite—Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: This had better be a point of order.Hon David Parker: My point of order was that none of those questions were asked by the Labour Party and the assertions were about the Labour Party and that was not even addressed in your answer Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: I will reflect on the answer when I consider Hansard later on today.Dr Russel Norman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Is this a fresh point of order?Dr Russel Norman: It is in relation to your ruling.Mr SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat. I have already ruled. I will look at the Hansard afterwards but if the member wants to discuss it further I—as I frequently do—invite him to come and see me after question time.Dr Russel Norman: Given that the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission has said that current activities threaten the Māui’s dolphin with extinction how do his proposed activities to increase oil exploration—not existing production but increased oil exploration—help the Māui’s dolphin avoid extinction or is it much more likely that his legacy to this country will be to drive the Māui’s dolphin towards extinction?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I reject the assertion. Secondly conservation was consulted actually as part of the process that we went through. It is really as simple as this. If the member is right then over the last 54 years a Māui’s dolphin would have been killed as a result of the exploration activity. Not one single dolphin has been. So we have had a 54-year experiment and nothing has happened and now the Opposition including Labour wants to close down—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That answer is now long enough.Hon Gerry Brownlee: As New Zealand’s domestic oil and gas supplies dwindle what would be the effect on the New Zealand economy if they are not replaced by new discovery?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well of course the country would have to import more of those fuels which would have an effect on our balance of payments; New Zealand would not earn the nearly $1 billion in royalties and taxes it earns a year; and thousands and thousands and thousands of people who are employed in Taranaki a place that we know well would lose their jobs. I look forward to campaigning in Taranaki and telling them: “Here’s your stark choice.” [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I call for order from the Hon Simon Bridges.