7. Question No. 7—Land InformationHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) to the Minister for Land InformationQuestion No. 7—Land Information7. Hon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) to the Minister for Land Information: Does she stand by all her statements actions and decisions?Hon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister for Land Information): Yes in the context in which they were made or given.Hon David Bennett: Are all mining applications now unsustainable under the Minister's economic test in the OceanaGold case that an investment in [a] non-renewable resource extraction is inherently unsustainable."?Hon EUGENIE SAGE: No and I have previously approved an application for quarrying in Otago and for extracting sand in the Auckland region—so no.Hon David Bennett: Why did she make that test and that definition in the OceanaGold decision then?Hon EUGENIE SAGE: Because I was applying the Overseas Investment Act—the criteria in that Act where it is a privilege to buy land in New Zealand. Applicants have to show that they are providing a substantial and identifiable benefit. I did not consider that using 178 hectares of productive farmland to build a 60 hectare tailings impoundment to store 17 million tonnes of hazardous mining waste provided a substantial and identifiable benefit.Hon David Bennett: Did the Minister receive any written advice to approve the OceanaGold application and if so from whom?Hon EUGENIE SAGE: I received advice from the Overseas Investment Office. Their recommendation was to approve the application.Jonathan Young: So when the Minister gave a negative weighting in her decision on OceanaGold's application stating "The acquisition of the land will enable more mining and therefore more emissions which could encumber New Zealand's transition to a net-zero emissions economy" what emissions was she referring to?Hon EUGENIE SAGE: OceanaGold in its own report in 2017 highlighted that mining in Waihī produced 5892 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2016 alone.Jonathan Young: If she is aware that 25 percent of OceanaGold's Waihī operation is already powered by electricity off the grid with investigations well under way to increase that percentage why is she so sure that they won't reduce their emissions any further?Hon EUGENIE SAGE: Applications that the Minister for Land Information makes in relation to the Overseas Investment Act are about the purchase of land. It was the land purchase and the applicant's proposal to convert productive farmland into a 60 hectare tailings impoundment to store toxic mining waste which was what I took into account.Jonathan Young: If that's the case then why did the Minister refer to emissions and give a negative weighting to that and out of the other applications the four out of the 35 that she has declined in which of those applications was use of diesel or petrol vehicles a consideration for her decision?Hon EUGENIE SAGE: In all of the applications they are considered on a case by case basis. I take a sustainable economic perspective when evaluating whether benefits are substantial and identifiable. If the Opposition doesn't want to consider contribution to climate change perhaps they should consider the future of the planet."