Calder Cam: Marine Legislation Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Calder Cam: Marine Legislation Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8756. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr CAM CALDER (National) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to rise to speak on the Marine Legislation Bill. I must say that I enjoyed the contribution from the member Darien Fenton who has just sat down. It betokens the pleasure and enthusiasm I think that members of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee had in considering this rather arcane but none the less interesting piece of work. A lot of work has been done. The bill enjoys widespread support across the House and that in itself is a pleasure. I would like to acknowledge the chairmanship of David Bennett. I have just had the pleasure of joining this committee and it is of regret to me that I was not there for the consideration of this piece of legislation. 
Trade is of course our lifeblood. It is New Zealand’s lifeblood. We export the majority of our commodities by sea and most of the essential imports that we all appreciate also come by sea. As a principled pragmatic Government we are committed to building a more competitive and productive economy and part of that is growing our exports. The work that Tim Groser has done around the world is legendary and our Prime Minister has just come back from South America and developing new markets there. This bill highlights our commitment to creating strong and sensible legislation that works and allows us to achieve that end. It aims to improve the clarity consistency and effectiveness of the Maritime Transport Act and it will also provide more certainty around the laws involved as well as improving safety environmental practices and environmental protection. That is a crucial part of our plank—economic development that is sustainable with protection of our environment. We have heard that the Marine Legislation Bill makes amendments to the Maritime Transport Act and the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act and I will not go into any further detail on that. 
As a young lad I grew up in Taranaki. It is an area I am proud of. You can take the boy away from the mountain but you can never take the mountain away from the boy. One of my earliest memories is going down to Ngamotu Beach and seeing a nodding donkey oil well—an oil well I was told that was one of the longest-serving producing wells in the country. Because of my interest in the region and in the oil industry itself—which incidentally is the third or fourth plank to the New Zealand economy. We export $2 billion - plus of very high-quality oil to the overseas markets which is a fact I was not aware of until some years ago. Of course “Taradise”—Taranaki—is where most of that oil comes from. We are committed to getting more out of that area and also other parts of New Zealand but also to protecting the environment and this is what this legislation helps us do. With the New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust I am hoping to spend a bit of time with the oil industry in Taranaki. The industry has worked very well over the decades—very very well indeed. There has been a very very small number of extremely minor oil spills but this legislation actually provides some clarity in terms of civil liability for pollution of the marine environment from marine structures. The clarity comes about through a committee recommendation amending a particular clause and inserting a new part relating to civil liability for pollution from marine structures and operations. This makes it clear that insurance requirements extend to pipelines that connect to offshore installations. 
So it is a very positive piece of legislation. The other area that it deals with is in a similar part of the legislation in that Maritime New Zealand will remain responsible for oil spill response and emergency dumping as expertise and power to deal with these aspects lie within its scope. I commend this bill to the House.