Young Jonathan: Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Young Jonathan: Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 26 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5682. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 I am very pleased to stand and speak on the Crown Minerals (Permitting and Crown Land) Bill. I say thank you for the comments from the previous speaker Moana Mackey. Indeed it is important for the benefit of New Zealand that we have a very robust regime that is going to stand the course of time as we look at the sensible responsible and sustainable use of the resources that our country is endowed with. 
Mr Clark made the comment that regarding people who go to Australia we need to understand that they are going across there because of the opportunities through mining and minerals and that is creating such an opportunity for those people. We have similar if not better advantages and possibilities here in our own country where we can enable not only an increase in jobs as we have talked about today particularly on the West Coast but also we can see an increase in revenue into our country so that we can do some of the things that we so often talk about in this House with greater ability. 
We know for example that New Zealand at the moment in terms of oil and gas exploration is extracting from one basin out of 17 and that is the Taranaki Basin—an area in which I am one of the MPs. Not only are there countless jobs and opportunities for people in Taranaki and also around the country but each year $400 million in royalties comes to the Government and $300 million in company tax is collected from the revenue from these resources. So this is not some small amount. This is a significant amount coming from one basin out of 17. 
I believe it is incredibly important that we have a very robust streamlined and very good process in which we handle the Crown estate—the estate that belongs to all New Zealanders. This bill is moving towards doing that. I know that as we come to the select committee process we will receive viewpoints from the sector that supports oil and gas and no doubt we will receive submissions from people who do not. In that process we will discuss the different viewpoints but I think at the final analysis the viewpoint that we need to always consider is what is going to be necessary and needful for the continual growth and sustainability of our nation here in New Zealand. Of course that is environmental but also it is economic. We know at times that these can be competing values but not necessarily all the time. We can balance these issues and do it in a very careful way. 
I think that we can look to Taranaki and see how in that region we have I think very responsibly and carefully progressed oil and gas exploration. We can see that progressing forward with this bill is going to be of benefit to the wider population of New Zealand. One of the things that I did just a few weeks ago was have the Minister of Commerce visit Taranaki. We drove down to South Taranaki where we visited one of the oil and gas installations. It was about a 60 kilometre journey. We had a small wager in the car and the wager was this: if you can see any oil and gas installations during our trip down of 60 kilometres you will get $2. He arrived down there with no coinage in his pocket simply because you would not have seen and you would not have known—[ 
Interruption 
] Exactly Mr Assistant Speaker. If you had been there you would not have seen or known as well because the profile of these installations is so low and environmentally they are so well contained. In fact the only one that he did see was one pointed out on the journey back. 
This is a province—no doubt we will hear Opposition voices and all sorts of allegations coming forward that are unsubstantiated and unproven—that has handled exploration in a very sustainable and a very positive way. As the Minister of Energy and Resources said today we have oil and gas we have dairying and we have tourism happening all in the same space in a place that we love that is clean that is green and that has a beautiful pristine environment and this is what we can do in New Zealand. 
This bill which will be going to the Commerce Committee in due course is going to create a regime where we can do that more effectively and also more responsibly. There are a number of aspects to this bill which is full of detail that are going simplify things. The two-tier system I applaud. I think it is absolutely fantastic that we can concentrate our resources on the more risky areas where we can focus in very closely on that to ensure that every best practice is taking place and that every contingency is put in place. 
I am very happy to support this bill. I look forward to its coming to the select committee where I am sure we will have a very good process in working together to come to an answer and a resolution that is going to be to the benefit of all New Zealanders. Thank you.