Williams Andrew: Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Williams Andrew: Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8853. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First) 
: 
 I rise to take a call on behalf of New Zealand First for the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill. As we advised at the first reading New Zealand First will be supporting this bill going through to the committee stage. We have some reservations about some aspects of the bill but we do fully support the intention of it. This bill is all about the natural resources and the Crown-owned minerals of our nation which are a very very important part of our economy. New Zealand First recognises that economic development and economic growth are required for our country to succeed and prosper and for the benefit of the people of New Zealand. Therefore it is most important that we get this right and it is most important that this Parliament passes legislation to ensure that we do get it right. 
In terms of Crown minerals something in the order of $2 billion has been received by the Crown since 2008 from royalties on minerals so it is a very significant amount of money coming to this nation. It is virtually the equivalent of what the National Government gave back to the wealthy 10 percent of New Zealanders in taxes—$2 billion—a few years ago. We certainly need these royalties to offset the $2 billion that National so swiftly gave away when it came to office in 2009. 
In terms of the royalties however New Zealand First does have some concerns that the royalties disappear into a big black hole in the Crown coffers and do not necessarily benefit the location from where the resources are taken. As a result New Zealand First put out a policy a few weeks ago called the regional royalties policy whereby under New Zealand First we would return 25 percent of all royalties back to the region that the resources were taken from. This has had huge support from around the country and many many organisations have advised us that they think it is a very sensible move that we have put forward in that it would help a great deal of economic development around the regions. It would also help many of the regions that are financially strapped to provide the necessary infrastructure. For instance you can imagine that many of the rural roads have been cut off now from a significant amount of funding because of the roads of national significance taking priority particularly some of the motorways and various things that the Hon Steven Joyce would love to roll out everywhere. As a result of that many of the rural communities are suffering on their roading. If in that situation 25 percent of the royalties were returned to some of those local authorities and to those regions in order to help support their infrastructure it could offset some of the costs for instance of roading in some areas that is deteriorating as a result of heavy vehicles and trucks and those sorts of things for the extraction of the minerals and resources forestry and even getting into all sorts of other areas of taking resources from New Zealand. So we believe that it is a very important policy. 
It would also benefit the likes of the Chatham Islands. Our Commerce Committee heard that the Chatham Rock Phosphate company wishes to extract phosphate from the Chatham Rise. About 1 percent of the area of the rise is to be extracted—a very small part of the rise—but it would be something in the order of 25 million tonnes of phosphate over the next several decades to make New Zealand 100 percent self-sufficient in rock phosphate or superphosphate. It currently comes from Morocco and Algeria and various other dodgy places when New Zealand could become self-sufficient in it which would therefore reduce our importation requirements. It would be very significant for the Chathams if for instance 25 percent of the royalties taken from the rock phosphate were returned to the Chatham Islands to help pay for their infrastructure for the relatively small population there. That would give them ongoing guaranteed income from Chatham Rise. Therefore it is a very sensible policy that we certainly hope the Government will take up and implement in due course. 
We are supportive of the fact there is a two-tiered system for permit management so that the higher-risk higher-value minerals that perhaps have more significant effects will have a higher level of permit management requirement rather than those that have a lower risk and lower value that do not present the same effects. Swift and decisive action is also possible under this bill for non-compliance and it is a good thing that non-compliance will be acted on and that there is swift decision-making to address that. 
The bill will also have a process to sift out applicants who do not meet the standards. It will basically vet applicants in a sensible manner in the early stages so that people do not waste time—do not waste Resource Management Act time and do not waste a lot of Crown time ministry time or the time of the courts in terms of applications. They will be sifted out early in the piece to certainly improve the process. 
It is interesting that the bill includes a requirement to report the engagement with iwi and hapu called the iwi engagement report. That is required each year. We were wondering whether the iwi engagement report was another name for the engagement between the National Party and the Maori Party because they seem to very much have an iwi engagement between these two parties all the time. We do wonder how that report will necessarily be effected and we will watch that with interest. We certainly feel that in terms of the minerals of this country and in terms of the extraction this must benefit all New Zealanders and it must be for the benefit of our nation so that our nation can go forward most certainly. 
The bill streamlines a system for industry and community. Community consultation and the aspects of that in this bill are good as it provides for and ensures community consultation in relation to Crown interests. It also complements the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act which was put into place last year. So in terms of that this is a good move to line this bill up with that Act which was put through in 2012. 
However New Zealand First’s position is always that we support economic development but it must be in terms of the environment and in a sustainable manner. The environment must always be given the benefit of the doubt if there is something at risk of impacting on that environment. We must ensure that the “100% Pure New Zealand” image is not tarnished in any way and so it is important that aspects of this bill are closely scrutinised to ensure that that “100% Pure New Zealand” image is maintained. 
New Zealand First will be supporting this bill going through to the select committee. We are doing that so that this bill gets full and robust consideration and so that the people of New Zealand have an opportunity— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: It’s been to the select committee. 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: Oh it has been to the select committee. Oh sorry. This is the second reading. Sorry. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: This is the second reading. 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: Yes sorry—to have full input into it. We believe that that is important. Every New Zealander stands to benefit from this bill and New Zealand First will be supporting it.