Catchpole Brent: Crown Minerals Amendment Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Catchpole Brent: Crown Minerals Amendment Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:610;Page:7618] 
BRENT CATCHPOLE (NZ First) 
: 
 The title of this bill is the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill but this bill does not really amend the Crown Minerals Act. It is in fact the “Crown Minerals High Court Repeal Bill”. This bill tries to cement into place a means of destroying our legal system by closing the loophole that has appeared in the Crown Minerals Act. The issue went to the High Court and the High Court has come out in a particular way that this Government does not like. 
Dail Jones 
: Again. 
BRENT CATCHPOLE 
: Once again! So this bill is an attempt to shut that down. This Government had problems with this bill in the High Court and will have them particularly once it gets to the Privy Council. So the Government has tried to circumvent that process. Another alternative for the title is the “Closing the Gaps in the Crown Minerals Act Bill”. 
Pansy Wong 
: Gaps? 
BRENT CATCHPOLE 
: This is trying to close the gaps. There are huge gaps. But once again this Government does not like dealing with closing the gaps does it? That is something that it does not like to hear about. The Government has decided to close those huge gaps in a rather peculiar way—by bringing in a bill that it calls the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill. But unfortunately it is all to do with a particular case—the Glenharrow Holdings Ltd case where that company had the right to mine greenstone. So perhaps the bill should be called the “Crown Minerals (Stop Glenharrow Holdings Mining Greenstone) Amendment Bill”. 
Pansy Wong 
: I want to know what gaps. 
BRENT CATCHPOLE 
: Oh the member wants to know more about the gaps. 
Pansy Wong 
: What gaps? 
BRENT CATCHPOLE 
: Oh the member wants more gaps! What about the “Stop Mining Greenstone (Gaps) Bill”? The gaps that the legislation has created have been rather extraordinarily changed; the Government has tried to legislate against them. Glenharrow Holdings tried to exert its property rights and this bill attempts to take away the right that it had under the legislation. It had the right to vary its licence and its permit. That legislation had a grandfather clause that allowed it to do that but this bill has changed things. Perhaps another title could be the “Remove all Grandfather Clauses Bill” because that is what it is doing: it is trying to remove the grandfather clause from both the Crown Minerals Act and the Glenharrow Holdings Ltd case that came up in 2001. This bill is really to try to close those gaps and I am afraid the attempt just misses the mark. We could give to this bill another title and that is the “Total Waste of Time Bill” because that is what it is doing; it is wasting time. The Minister came out and set a date on which everything would stop so nobody could make any more applications to extend their licences and he did that by press release. So this is the “Government by Press Release Bill”. 
Rodney Hide 
: It was the “former” member Harry Duynhoven. 
BRENT CATCHPOLE 
: It was the “former” member Harry Duynhoven who did that—that is right. I thank Mr Hide for that. I had forgotten that it was the “former” member Harry Duynhoven who issued that press release. I certainly hope that by doing so he has not extinguished all their rights.