Doocey Matt: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDoocey Matt: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 23 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4630. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri):It is a great pleasure and an honour to rise and speak in support of a very important bill. It was disappointing that in the speech of the previous member Stuart Nash the only relevance to the bill was his getting the title correct; everything after that had no relevance whatsoever. So I will attempt to go a bit further. I will mention the title the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill—third reading. This bill is about business continuity. It is about a Government that cares that believes in New Zealand and that believes in a productive economy as well as protecting the environment. That is why New Zealanders backed us last September—why they supported us. They trust us; they know we are responsible. Today the guilt and the envy are palpable in the House.Can I acknowledge first the Hon Dr Nick Smith for his work in this area and the chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee Scott Simpson. The guilt and the envy are palpable—the guilt of a Labour Government that over 9 years did absolutely nothing in this space and the embarrassment that that causes them. And for the Greens: the envy and resentment of our delivering what they wanted to deliver. For the Greens it is like the player who gets subbed off halfway through a game resenting that they never really performed at any sort of level. For the Greens it is like being the water boy who is always looked over for selection but is holding on that one day he will get the nod—the guilt the embarrassment the envy and the resentment.There is with this Government a lot happening in the environmental space—in the blue-green space. It was great to see this legislation go through the legislative process from the first reading where there were some concerns conspiracy stories to the way the bill was managed through the select committee process where we heard about five submissions each of which had very valid points which the select committee had to think through. There were very collegial discussions and in the end this legislation was amended through the second reading and now we have this final reading.We are talking about a sector where there are very real consequences. We do know from the regulatory impact statement that if Shell Todd Oil Services were to cease operations in the Māui field it would have a significant impact on New Zealand’s economy. We are talking not only about the economy but also about New Zealand’s well-being. What we do know is that the Māui field produces about 26 percent of New Zealand’s gas supply and it is a big employer in the Taranaki region employing about 300 people. So it is right that this Government work to protect a valuable sector of the New Zealand economy and a valuable employer. We do know that we have the old Pareto ratio of 80:20 in this case. This field produces around 80 percent of the gas consumed and it provides for about 20 percent of sites—petrochemical sites and electricity generation as well as large industrial users in our export economy.We as New Zealanders do know that it is the export economy that drives this country forward and that improves the well-being of all New Zealanders. The regulatory impact statement outlines also that a previous outage in 2011 cost the economy $200 million—that was $40 million a day. So we do know that it is right not only to grow the economy but also to protect our environment. That is this National Government’s approach—the blue-green approach. I do not see this approach more than in my electorate of Waimakariri where the residents and constituents understand this. It is a great area for primary production and produces a lot of export goods. We know that it is about improving the quality of water water storage and increasing the productivity of the land. So it is great to see this Government delivering in this space.A key part of this bill was around the specified time frames for Shell Todd Oil Services to apply for a marine consent. What this committee did quite rightly was to work through those issues. There was a proposal for 6 months which would have put it in line with the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act the Crown Minerals Act and the Resource Management Act. Six months looked pretty credible. There were proposals for 9 months and 12 months also. Twelve months did seem like a long time but the reason why this committee settled on 9 months was the 140 statutory days needed for this application process as well as time for appeals and objections. So this committee did settle on 9 months.And why is it right that we have time for appeals and objections to take place? Some of the submitters were concerned that this might allow for an open-ended application process. But that is only right because every New Zealander expects to be heard; they want to be part of the process. Only a country like New Zealand allows every New Zealander the right to submit and to present their submission orally. So if that takes time then so be it and it is great that everyone will have the time to make a submission during this process. It was great to see the legislative process working its way through as the committee decided between 6 9 and 12 months. We had a submission from Frack Free Kapiti and Beyond. It was very concerned about the open-ended process that I have just talked about. So it is great to see that submitters can be involved.A key part of this bill is clause 4 which amends section 162 of the Act and is around the inflexibility of this section. What we wanted to do was make the Act flexible in order to allow these petroleum companies to fit into this new regime and to continue operating when their previous permit has expired. I think that is right because these large petroleum operators needed business certainty and business continuity. You could ask any small medium or large business throughout New Zealand and they are all about business continuity. Even the farmers in my electorate measure themselves against reliability—reliability of water to feed the stock and to produce what they can. So it is quite right that we are supporting business continuity with this piece of legislation.I also highlight that I think the submitters to this bill got it right. They were very concerned that this petroleum operator knew about the issue did not get its act together and should have provided more information up-front. I think that most New Zealanders are pretty astute and it is pretty hard to argue against that. When we heard submissions from the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand which was representing the petroleum operators and other individuals and the private sector I urged them to be involved in this process a lot earlier. There are now clear time lines and expectations of being a bit more interventionist with petroleum companies to ensure that they get these applications in on time.I wrote down a bit of checklist in my first reading speech and I think it is still very relevant. I had a look at it and it says: “Does this bill support our fourth-biggest export commodity earner?” Yes. “Does this bill avoid the closure of a gasfield at $40 million a day?” Yes. “Does this bill protect 300 jobs?” Yes. “Does this bill support existing operators to transition into the exclusive economic zone Act?” Yes. “Does this bill protect $800 million worth of taxes and royalties from operators in this sector which pays for public services such as schools hospitals and roads?” Yes. “And—very important for the Greens—does this bill support the retiring of coalmining by supporting gas exploration and exporting?” Yes. So very much like myself and Ron Mark this bill is small and simple but very effective and I support it in this House.