Mark Ron: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is subject to correctionMark Ron: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 17 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4537. Text is subject to correction.]RON MARK (NZ First):I rise to take a call. I will take your guidance Mr Chairman and I will try to be new novel and creative in my contribution but I do have to be a tad boring in terms of putting New Zealand First’s position on the record. I do remind some of the—[Interruption] Sorry Mr Foss. What was that again?Hon Craig Foss: Irony’s not allowed in here.RON MARK: Irony is not allowed? We will stay with you. I think you should be at home worrying about your next nomination actually Mr Foss but never mind. I have to put on the record New Zealand First’s position and forgive me if we take a slightly boring line in some aspects because there are some things that we would like to mention in respect of the considerations of the bill. There is not a lot I can disagree with in the summations that have been made already.I went back through prior to coming down to the Chamber some of the submissions particularly the submission from Tanea Tangaroa who expressed her whānau and hapū’s concerns over the imposition on their rights in terms of determining how the natural resources within the blue waters might be managed and the affairs and worries about the 55 Māui’s dolphins. I did listen with great interest to the presentation or the submission from the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand and I was somewhat mystified to say the least. It seemed to me that the genesis of this piece of legislation actually lies in the legislation that went through in 2013 which all occurred while I was out of the House having my sabbatical break as the Mayor of Carterton.What I gleaned from those submissions was that the base legislation that was passed in 2013 was flawed. It had holes in it. The responsibility for that is the National Government’s. In fact the responsibility for that was one Mr Nick Smith’s. It injected a problem into the legislation a problem that the oil industry wanted the Government to resolve. Cabinet agreed that the problem that was injected in was not its intent—it was an oversight—and moved to satisfy the oil company’s needs by putting this legislation in front of the House. It is interesting to think back as to where this problem occurred because in light of what is happening today—in an attempt to be creative and interesting—one cannot escape the obvious conclusion that wherever Nick Smith tends to walk disaster tends to follow. We are seeing time and time again whether it was in local government with the rushed botched way in which he attacked the Local Government Act and now with what is happening with Ngāti Whātua and the right of first refusal and then on top of that this piece of legislation that this House is spending an exorbitant amount of time and taxpayers’ money fixing up legislation that Mr Smith is responsible for.I am really pleased that on the select committee we have people of the calibre of Scott Simpson and Todd Muller. These are the types of people who could quite easily slot into Nick Smith’s job and do a far better job than that which we are trying to redress right now. There is only one reason we are here doing this. It is because of the Minister’s failings. The question when we talk about this bill—and we are all unanimously in agreement with the measures that have to be taken. We actually agreed on the amendment to change the application for a marine consent the lead time to 9 months. We unanimously agreed on that by sitting down and talking it through—something that the Minister himself is not renowned for. Talking things through is not what he is widely acknowledged for. He does not display the skills of someone who can talk things through and hence we are fixing his stuff-up.David Bennett: Why don’t you walk in the park with old Cunliffe?RON MARK: So Mr David Bennett who will never be in Cabinet—in fact Todd Muller will be there before him—interjects across the Chamber but he does it in a very embarrassed way because he is embarrassed for Nick Smith. He is embarrassed for Nick Smith but I would only say to Mr Bennett: “You’re backing a dead horse. Get on the right horse. Smith’s gone. The sooner he’s out of his misery the sooner we’ll stop having to pass legislation like this to fix his muck-ups.”I will not actually stop with Mr Smith. The oil company Shell Todd Oil Services needs to accept some responsibility itself.