Adams Amy: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeAdams Amy: General Debate[Sitting date: 23 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14194. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister for the Environment): The member who has just resumed her seat Metiria Turei tried to imply that members in this House feel under some pressure to vote for the Skycity convention centre bill. Well I can tell you the only pressure the members in this party feel under is to turn round 9 years of complete economic sabotage and destruction that was wreaked on this country by a Labour-Green Government. The pressure I feel as a member of this House is the pressure to provide opportunities and jobs for New Zealanders. I would be surprised if there was anyone in this House who would stand up and tell New Zealand that they come here every day and block every single opportunity to create jobs in New Zealand. Yet what do we have? We have some parties who come to this House and they oppose agriculture they oppose free trade they oppose the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband and all the benefits that brings they oppose mining they oppose every opportunity that would create jobs and they support every bureaucratic process-heavy costly long drawn-out process that will suck the life out of the economic future of New Zealand.I want to talk a little bit about one issue that we are hearing a lot about just recently and that is the issue of mineral exploration. I want to talk about mineral exploration because I find it absolutely unbelievable that we have parties in this House with the barefaced cheek to come in here and talk about the risks of oil and gas drilling when they not only spent 9 years in Government with zero protection for the environment—zero protection for the environment—and zero rules around how we look after our offshore resources when we do these things but also voted against environmental protection when the National Government put it up. It was the National Government that for the first time instituted a system of environmental consenting for our offshore exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. And do you know what happened of course? Labour voted against it and the Greens voted against it.What I want to do is tell you a little bit about what the process was under a Labour-Green Government. This was the environmental protection. This was the very technically competent inclusive publicly involved process under Labour and that the Greens had. Step one: the Minister of Energy and Resources signs a permit. That is it. That was the whole of the process. So where was the environmental protection? Where was Greenpeace with its models? Where was the public involvement? [Interruption] And now we see the outrage—the outrage—that pours off them in waves.But do you know what I think it is? I think we can take a little bit of a lesson on this from what is happening now with the Skycity bill. We have got Labour saying publicly “What an outrage!” and saying privately “Don’t worry boys. We’ll look after you. We’ll be fine if it’s in.” So you can imagine what Labour is telling the oil and gas industry behind the scenes: “Don’t worry we’ll be out there charging about saying how outrageous it is but we’ll see you right. Don’t worry.” You could not figure out what the Labour position was on this issue if you tried. You know that whatever the members tell you is unlikely to be correct. We have had David Cunliffe telling Taranaki that people are leaving in droves and yet what were the numbers that came out? No it was growth in Taranaki.Jonathan Young: 5500.Hon AMY ADAMS: In fact with a successful blend of oil and gas agriculture and tourism—Mr Jonathan Young will know—it is one of the most successful economies in the country.Dr David Clark: Where are the jobs?Hon AMY ADAMS: The jobs Mr Clark come from mineral extraction. They come from agriculture. They come from the roll-out of infrastructure like the ultra-fast broadband network. If New Zealand is not already wise enough to know how much damage the Labour-Green Government did in its 9 years the fact that those members oppose more jobs in agriculture oppose more jobs in the oil and gas sector oppose more jobs across the provinces and oppose the roll-out of infrastructure—you do have to wonder. But I can tell them. Perhaps I can help them. Perhaps we can help the Green Party cut out some hundreds of thousands of dollars with its spin doctors that frankly the oil and gas sector through its taxes probably paid for. We can tell it already what its slogan should be in 2014: “The Green Party. We’re for New Zealand—closed for business. Last man out blow out the candle.”