Twyford PhilHon PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū): Thank you Madam Speaker. My contribution's going to be a bit different to the one you heard from Stuart Smith over the last five minutes. I'm not here to mount a defence of seafood mining or the extraction of hydrocarbons and fossil fuels from the seabed around our coastline. I want to acknowledge the member Debbie Ngarewa-Packer for bringing this bill to the House; also to acknowledge that the intent of this bill to wean our economy off fossil fuels and to adequately protect the seabed around our country is in tune with a growing number of people in our society here and abroad and it is part of a powerful global movement to change the way that we live on this planet. That I think deserves respect.The House has heard the Hon Minister David Parker set out the Government's position on this bill. We won't be supporting it at first reading and as someone who's proposed a few bans in his time including members' bills that were voted down by the Government of the day I have some sympathy with the member. But we're not voting against this bill today because we're not concerned about the environmental protection of our seabed. We're not voting against it because we're not committed to a just transition to a decarbonised economy—we are. We're voting against it because how you do it matters and we believe that there's a better way to proceed.I'll hopefully have a minute at the end to talk a little bit about the proposal that Minister David Parker has made to the Environment Committee which I serve on that we should look at a select committee inquiry into seabed mining but let me just say a couple of things about the bill itself. What it does is put in place a nationwide ban on seabed mining consents within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and our coastal waters. It shuts down the ability to apply for exploration rights for seabed mining under the Crown Minerals Act and it retrospectively withdraws existing seabed mining consents and exploration rights under the EEZ Act and the Crown Minerals Act.Now there are three reasons why Labour is not supporting this bill tonight and the first is that it would have serious adverse implications for the country's energy supply. Our reading of the bill is that it would revoke 14 existing petroleum permits. Around 70 percent of our country's petroleum production comes from offshore but more importantly is what it would do to gas production. Three offshore fields—Māui Pohokura and Kupe—produce about half of our natural gas which goes into our domestic network from Taranaki. Shutting down those fields would have significant implications and immediate implications for the gas that we use in New Zealand not only for the peak generation of electricity that our system is currently dependent on in dry seasons and in times of peak electricity demand but also domestic and industrial activity that relies on gas. So the bill would see an 80 percent decline in our production of LPG and we would need to immediately find new ways of generating that gas or import it until satisfactory alternatives were found.There would be severe economic implications in terms of a retrospective and immediate shutting down of those exploration rights. As David Parker pointed out our Government was very very careful to ensure that we were banning future exploration of oil and gas not to revoke those existing permits or do it retrospectively. It would have significant implications for investment in this country if we did that.Then there are a number of other implications for customary marine title and Treaty settlements as a result of this bill were it to be enacted. Our view is that we need to consider this seriously. We need to consider the issues in the round. We need to do it in a way that's transparent and engages the people of this country in a proper properly informed conversation about the future of seabed mining and I'm intending to be part of that discussion at the Environment Committee. Thank you.