Simpson Scott: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 26 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1999. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Before I turn to address this Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill in its first reading I just seek the indulgence of the House for a moment to express my condolences and sympathies to the family of Dame Thea Muldoon. I had the great privilege and honour of meeting Dame Thea on several occasions during the 1980s when her husband Sir Robert was Prime Minister in my capacity as an active and enthusiastic Young National. I always found her to be congenial warm very hospitable generous with her time and enormously generous with her support not only for the National Party but for her husband and her family at a time when being a member of Parliament was a lot less family friendly than it is today. I just want to acknowledge the contribution that she made in her own right to this country and to the democracy that we enjoy and I offer my sincere sympathies and condolences to her family.This Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill is a very small piece of legislation it is an important piece of legislation and it a piece of amending legislation that as the Minister who introduced the bill said is one we would have preferred not to be doing. The reason for that is that sometimes pragmatic decisions have to be made and they have to be made in the better interests of the country of commerce of the environment and indeed of our collective and mutual well-being. This bill will amend the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012 and it goes to addressing some transitional issues that have been identified and that were not identified during the vigorous introductory stages at the select committee and through the House in the course of the bill traversing through the House.It relates to an application by Shell Todd Oil Services which will be in breach of the requirements of the Act if it continues to operate without a marine consent after 27 June 2015. Why is this date important? It is important because if that business does have to cease operations there will be a significant loss not only to the economy of New Zealand but to energy consumers and indeed of course to the company. So this amendment will allow existing operators that have applied for a marine consent to continue their operations until that application has been decided and until most importantly any subsequent appeals to that process have been decided.As we know in matters of this sort appeals can be lengthy and protracted. Indeed we had the chief executive and the chair of the Environmental Protection Authority before the Local Government and Environment Committee just this very day. The chair Kerry Prendergast was at pains to point out in her presentation to the select committee that the bill is very much still in its transitional phase. It is still very much in a settling-down phase and we are in the early days of this very significant and important piece of legislation.It is important because we have this large exclusive economic zone. I listened carefully to Minister Upston during her introductory comments and I noted that she made the very apt point that our exclusive economic zone is one of the largest in the world. We have a continental shelf that is probably about 21 times greater than our entire land mass and the exclusive economic zone area covers more than 400 million hectares and our extended continental shelf covers a further 170 million hectares. So this is an area that is vast and it is rich in resource but there is an awful lot that is yet unknown about it and that was another point that the chair of the authority made at the select committee today. There is an awful lot about our exclusive economic zone that we do not know about yet. We need to tread carefully we need to be cautious and we need to take the steps that are required to ensure the good stable and effective management of that exclusive economic zone but also at the same time to ensure that all that is there in terms of sea life and everything else that is part of that environment is protected and cared for and not abused in any way.It is important that we get this stuff right. It is important not just for those of us who are fortunate enough to be here as citizens of New Zealand today but for our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren not yet born because they will be the ones who inherit the benefits of our diligence and care in this area. The Minister made the point that there are four petroleum production operations currently operating within the exclusive economic zone off the coast of Taranaki and I thought the point she made that they had been operating since the mid-1970s in an unregulated environment for almost all that time was particularly important.I suspect as this debate goes through and probably as we go through a very diligent and careful analysis of this amendment in the select committee there will be those from the opposite side of the House who will criticise us for having the temerity to actually introduce legislation to do something bold to regulate and to be considering the future in a way that they simply did not during their time in office. We had 9 long years of a Labour-Green Government and it did absolutely nothing in this area—absolutely nothing. For those members now to stand in this House and I suspect in the select committee and criticise a Government that has had the gumption and the foresight to make significant advances in this area I think is something that they will need to consider for themselves.When an application for a marine consent is made it is a process that is quite lengthy and so it should be. It is a process that requires very careful diligence and investigation. The likelihood of the application that is currently being made by Shell Todd Oil Services being completed before 27 June this year without appeal is frankly remote so as a pragmatic sensible and careful Government it is appropriate that we do move to resolve this issue. The bill will not change the current requirement for existing operators to transition into the exclusive economic zone Act regime through the marine consenting process so there is no hint or suggestion that anything untoward is going to occur here or anything that will give the business some kind of unfair advantage or commercial benefit that goes beyond allowing it to simply continue to trade.The potential impact of a closure is likely to cause enormous negative impact on consumers on “New Zealand Incorporated” and on the company. The current operators have applied for the marine consent before the expiry date but we will be moving I think quite quickly and hopefully I think it is the intention of the Government to ensure that this amending legislation is completed before 28 June in order to allow production to continue. We simply as a nation and as a Parliament cannot afford to allow a field that provides up to 20 percent of New Zealand’s gas to have any uncertainty about its operation at all.Our natural environment is without doubt our greatest asset and this is a Government that believes successful economic and environmental policy can and indeed must go hand in hand. The oil and gas industry is a very vital part of the New Zealand economy and oil is our fourth-largest commodity export after dairy meat and wood. The oil and gas economy combined is worth around $2 billion of GDP. This is a small but important piece of amending legislation. As chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee I give an undertaking to the House that this bill will be carefully and thoroughly scrutinised at select committee. We are looking forward to our work ahead on that matter. I commend the bill to the House.