Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you to the previous speaker the Hon Michael Wood for acknowledging that the ACT Party does support ongoing development of oil and gas resources and our mineral resources and that we also have a strong commitment to reducing the effects of greenhouse gas emissions by making sure the emissions trading scheme puts a price on emissions so the incentives to reduce emissions are clear.That is why the ACT Party says that the provisions of this bill which further go to restrict access and development of New Zealand's natural and physical resources—particularly those hydrocarbon resources natural gas and oil which we absolutely depend on for residential heating generating electricity and for producing manufactured goods like methanol; like paper from our timber and forestry and so on—that we continue to have an adequate supply of those resources at a cost-effective rate.So let's come to the problems that this bill proposes to solve and the problems that this bill causes. This bill proposes to amend the Crown Minerals Act which includes minerals in the ground—things such as gold and silver for example—and oil and gas. They are all covered by this Act. It enables a more flexible approach to the management allocation of rights to Crown-owned minerals. Well what it does by removing the word promote" from the purpose of the bill—"promote" the development of minerals—it essentially takes away the "New Zealand's open for business; we want New Zealand to be a wealthy country so we can afford better social outcomes." It takes away the "promote" and goes back to "manage".Then it says instead of the Minister being required to make offers to the market to access New Zealand's Crown-owned minerals—oil gas and other minerals such as gold—instead of being required to "promote" that and to provide permitting in a regular and timely manner it's going to be "from time to time". So when a Minister feels like—and we didn't hear any criteria from the Minister what that might be. Of course we could expect that under a Government that was supported by the Green Party—which is fundamentally opposed to mining—and Labour which essentially does whatever it thinks will get the kids to vote for it.If this administration continues along this route what we can see is an ongoing pathway to reduction in access to affordable oil and gas energy and to the critical minerals that the Minister acknowledged are critical for life on earth as we know it now. Whether it's medical imaging equipment satellites cell phones or simply the batteries and computer chips in the electric vehicles that one day we'll all be driving.We have a choice. Do we go back to a zero-growth doughnut economy—a circular economy essentially: limits of growth some socialist utopia where a centralised government will tell you where you are allowed to live what car you are allowed to drive what fuel you are allowed to use—or should we choose instead the economic opportunity that developing New Zealand's resources offers us? Because that's what ACT would do. We believe that getting the resources out of the ground turning them into economically valuable goods trading them with our neighbours and our partners value-for-value actually uplifts all New Zealanders—but particularly those in the regions like Taranaki; the West Coast of the South Island; Southland; Otago; and of course Coromandel where small towns like Waihī benefit from having fantastic high-tech environmentally friendly operators like OceanaGold operating gold mining in in that area.So the Minister admitted that this bill is necessary because of something that happened in 2018. This bill backfills and essentially resolves a lot of the messy policy and legislative damage caused by former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who announced on 11 April 2018 a ban on oil and gas exploration offshore in New Zealand quoted at the time "must start somewhere" no jobs will be lost effective immediately. Well crikey that's policy on the hoof. Here we are in 2023 five years later the forlorn Minister of Energy and Resources Megan Woods having to come to the House and try to close off some of the issues that that flawed hopeless announcement has resulted in.It was described—that announcement—as a major victory by the Green Party leader James Shaw. Truly in the Prime Minister's words he said it is a "nuclear-free moment of our generation". Well this is how it's going so far—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Right Mr Court—SIMON COURT: Yes Mr Speaker?DEPUTY SPEAKER: Back to the bill.SIMON COURT: Thank you Mr Speaker. So what does this mean? What does this mean? What is a more flexible approach to management allocation of rights to Crown-owned minerals mean in New Zealand? Well it means a Minister will have more ability to say no to things even if they choose to offer permits—even if they choose to offer them.This legislation does not repair the economic vandalism of that 2018 announcement to ban oil and gas exploration. It does not help the environment long term because all emissions in New Zealand are covered by the cap under the emissions trading scheme which the Minister of Climate Change can set. If they wanted to reduce emissions they simply reduce the cap and the number of credits that are auctioned under the emissions trading scheme. It does not reduce carbon emissions by a single tonne. That is a fallacy; that is gaslighting.But what it certainly does do is increase the national security risk that losing our energy independence creates by reducing the amount of oil and gas that we produce here in New Zealand. The Minister talked about a gas transition plan. There is no other country in the world that has embarked upon the removal of an energy source like natural gas from its economy and then having decided they were going to do that found the rainbow that leads to the field of unicorns where we all live in this just transition world where no jobs were lost.There is no other country in the world that's turned off gas. In the midst of a global energy shortage President Putin having invaded Ukraine and forced Europe to reconsider its own energy transition to increase the volume of renewables this is what UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said recently in relation to their gas transition plan: "We've all witnessed how Putin has manipulated and weaponised energy disrupting supply and stalling growth in countries around the world. Now more than ever it's vital we bolster our energy security and capitalise on that independence to deliver more affordable clean energy to British homes and businesses."Now a future Minister of energy may well make the same speech with regard to New Zealand. Because if the UK deems it necessary to offer hundreds of licences for exploration in the North Sea to the rest of their natural gas resources to make sure they have clean and affordable energy and to make sure that their national security interests are upheld you know it may well apply to New Zealand too.ACT opposes this bill but we do support a regime where decommissioning the Tui oil field or other installations is carried out to an extremely high standard—but that's already allowed for under existing legislation. ACT would support engagement with iwi and hapū about natural gas and mineral resources where they have customary rights where they have a demonstrated property right. For example Ngāi Tahu in the South Island made the case very strongly when the Government was considering whether mining should be banned or prohibited on conservation land particularly stewardship land that there are iwi and hapū in New Zealand that have potentially a right—a property right or a customary right—to access minerals that the Crown owns.So it is important that the Government engage with iwi and hapū to understand what that property right is. But ACT can't support this bill because it doesn't reduce by a single tonne of carbon New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions capped under the emissions trading scheme; it acts to further sterilise economic opportunities particularly in regions like Taranaki; it exposes New Zealand to a higher risk of our national security being compromised by energy and materials shortages that we could address on-shore; it increases the cost of energy to homes and businesses; and it risks the leakage or deindustrialisation of jobs overseas. ACT opposes this bill. We'll repeal the ban on oil and gas should we be in Government.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The time has come for me to leave the Chair. The House will resume at 2 p.m. Sitting suspended from 12.57 p.m. to 2 p.m."