Submit as if your grandkids’ lives depend on it

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, September 30th, 2024 - 19 comments
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Last week was a big week in politics.

The Government did a number of things each of which was deeply disturbing and deeply detrimental to our country.

They included:

  • Walking back on a promise which was used to attack Labour repeatedly, which was to provide Dunedin with a hospital that it deserved. The announced cut back to the project suggests that National thinks Dunedin deserves very little.
  • It was revealed that Mainfreight was not involved in the expert advisory group to advise on the new ferries. And not having rail enabled ferries would result in 5,000 more Mainfreight truck trips a year. When the country’s largest trucking firm says says that rail enabled ferries are vital then it is pretty clear that it is.
  • Act announced that teacher only days during school term would be banned, making the introduction of the new curriculum very difficult if not impossible. Take that Teachers’ Union.
  • In yet another insult to Maoridom the Government announced a cut to funding for Te Reo education for teachers of $30 million a year so that it could fund its new literacy programme.

But the most disturbing news was the introduction of the Government’s bill allowing for offsea oil and gas drilling to be reintroduced. And the kicker was that citizens will have only have five days from that date to submit on the bill. Citizenship involvement in the formulation of law is clearly not something of importance to this Government.

Its justification for the change was contained in this speech from Shane Jones during the Bill’s introduction:

Our Government inherited a dire situation where gas supply has been tight, and demand grossly exceeds supply. Why does this situation exist? It exists because of an ideological urge to reject the value of an indigenous resource in New Zealand called natural gas that represents a key contingency fuel that offers security to New Zealand’s energy system; an irrational belief that this valuable resource represents a threat to New Zealand’s reputation, New Zealand’s stamina economically. Our Government rejects that ideological clap trap.

In response Megan Woods summarised the bill well:

I am not going to spend the time of my speech reminding those on the opposite benches of the large body of climate science that tells us about the need to keep oil and gas in the ground—I’m taking that as a given. And I’m assuming members opposite actually do engage in that literature. But I am going to spend my time in this speech talking about how today signifies a time when the three parties of this Government firmly plant in the ground their backwards-looking plan that is no plan. All three parties in this coalition are showing their true colours today. They will be judged by their actions for generations to come. This is a bill that certainly does not put New Zealand first; it puts New Zealand at risk. This bill is quite simply climate denying, populist, right-wing virtue signalling.

Steve Abel from the Greens said this about the “inconvenience” of climate change:

If we are to have a future on this planet, the oil and gas industry and the coal industry must have no future. Now, is it convenient to transition our energy system from the means by which we have powered most of the world for the last 200 years? No, it is not convenient. Is it something we do for a laugh? No, it is not something we do for a laugh. It is something we do because the science of climate change—which the other side of the House are in rabid denial of—tells us that we have to move away from oil, gas, and coal.

And this:

It’s interesting that the party that wants to vandalise the functional viability of the atmosphere on which all humanity and, in fact, all life on Earth depends, by continuing to pollute it with carbon dioxide, is calling those of us who want to stop the destruction of the viability of life on Earth the vandals. In fact, that’s exactly what we’re here to do: to stop the vandalism.

The bill itself is more than a simple repeal of the drilling ban. It makes a number of changes. Gold mining on the foreshore would be permitted. Conservation land in Taranaki can now be investigated for exploitation.

One of the more complex and more worrying provisions is to remove the obligation for a permit or licence holder to take out an approved security to pay for decommissioning costs. More flexibility as approved by the Minister is to be allowed. Given that Shane Jones wanted the State to pay compensation if drilling rights were cancelled by a future Government you can imagine that he would be something of a pushover in negotiations with oil companies.

Also the previous government had expanded liability for decomissioning costs to include all former permit holders. The current proposal is that this be changed to include the prior permit holder only.

These are issues that need to be carefully worked through as the potential costs to the country are huge. Five days is not enough time to analyse them properly.

The change in philosophy is highlighted by a simple tweak to the purpose statement in the Act. Instead of the Government managing prospecting, exploration and mining of Crown owned minerals for the benefit of New Zealand it will in the future promote those activities under the bill.

If you want to make a submission this page has the details.

If you want to you may wish to say:

  • Five days is a ridiculously short period to submit on something as serious as this.
  • Climate change is real and is happening now. The country is seeing the effects of this regularly.
  • The scientific consensus is that if we are going to avoid the worst effects of it we need to leave undiscovered oil and gas in the earth.
  • There have been no major new discoveries of gas since 2002. The ban is not the cause of the current gas shortage.
  • New gas wells will take 10 to 15 years to bring online. The ban on drilling has nothing to do with current gas shortages.
  • Mass construction of renewable energy projects offers our best chance of a stable electricity supply as well as of meeting our emissions targets.
  • Natural Gas is not necessarily a better alternative to oil. When methane gas emissions are factored in burning gas is much worse for the environment than the industry would let us think.
  • The Bill is inconsistent with our international obligations as well as various trade treaties.
  • In particular the Bill is inconsistent with the current Government’s goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

And just remember. Submissions have to be filed no later than 11:59 pm tomorrow night, Tuesday October 1.

Tell them to think about our grandchildren’s future. And how their climate denying, populist, right-wing virtue signalling performative art is not what we need in the middle of a climate crisis.

19 comments on “Submit as if your grandkids’ lives depend on it ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Stephen D 1
    30 September 2024 at 12:51 pm

    What I would like to see is the opposition clearly state that this bill will be repealed immediately on regaining the treasury benches.
    Make it clear that there is no future in exploration in Aotearoa.

  3. Karolyn_IS 3
    30 September 2024 at 2:33 pm

    Done. Not for my grandkids – don't have any children, But for other people's grandkids.

    Micky's guidelines were useful.

  4. ianmac 4
    30 September 2024 at 4:19 pm

    Me done too.

  5. Macro 5
    30 September 2024 at 4:50 pm

    Meanwhile..

    No new gas likely before 2035 despite government's plans to un-ban exploration

    Except …. perhaps if they tethered a pipeline to the current "minister" there would be an immediate supply of gas and wind from the pompous nincompoop. He ventilates constantly.

  6. thinker 6
    30 September 2024 at 6:01 pm

    Mainzeal or Mainfreight in the link?

  7. Drowsy M. Kram 7
    30 September 2024 at 8:57 pm

    Thanks for the submission tips/advice – done.

  8. PsyclingLeft.Always 8
    1 October 2024 at 10:55 am

    Shane Jones…..5 days? Our mandate and legitimacy comes from the election campaign.

    Well….yea. Some of us saw it . Stood out like dogs bollocks.

    The march was hurriedly organised by a handful of lobby groups after the public was only given four working days to submit on the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill.

    Oil Free Wellington spokesperson Michelle Ducat told RNZ the short notice for submissions was not good enough.

    "It diminishes our democracy," she said.

    "It says, we're not really interested in what the public have to say."

    But Jones said it was plenty of time.

    "We had an election about it, the three parties that comprise the government went and asked the permission of New Zealand and we were given that permission," he said

    No alternative? Liar !

    Oil and gas exploration was vital to keep big industry's lights on, he said.

    "We don't have an alternative to gas."

    And the advice? (which like Health etc they ignore..cause Dino thinkers)

    RNZ on Monday revealed the government's own advice on repealing the oil and gas exploration ban says no new gas fields are likely to be discovered and developed in the next 10 years.

    The latest modelling, urgently released under the Official Information Act, says in the short term, repealing the ban is unlikely to significantly bolster gas supplies from existing fields, either.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/529437/climate-protesters-confront-resources-minister-shane-jones

    Stand Up ! Push back !

  9. Bearded Git 9
    1 October 2024 at 12:38 pm

    NZ produced roughly 5.4% of its electricity from coal in the 10 years between 2014-2023.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/715879/new-zealand-coal-electricity-generation/#:~:text=New%20Zealand%20uses%20coal%20as,coalfields%20located%20throughout%20the%20country.

    Given the mass of renewables coming online in the next few years, including the largest solar plant in NZ given consent yesterday (three times as big as any previous NZ solar site) this very small level of coal usage really isn't a problem, and it will reduce further soon.

    I follows that NZ certainly doesn't need to invest in facilities to import gas-that would be stupid, as is National's bill to enable prospecting for gas.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/529428/consent-granted-for-large-solar-power-station-at-ruakaka-in-northland

  10. georgecom 10
    1 October 2024 at 4:33 pm

    done

  11. PsyclingLeft.Always 11
    1 October 2024 at 6:11 pm

    Advice? NACT1 don't need no frickin advice…..

    Government's repeal on oil and gas ban risked NZ's reputation with trading partners

    Legal advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned the government that its repeal of the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration opened New Zealand up to reputational and legal risks with its trading partners.

    The Regulatory Impact Statement, sent to Resources Minister Shane Jones by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, contains a series of assessments from MFAT regarding the reversal's potential impacts on New Zealand's Free Trade Agreements with the likes of the UK or the EU.

    The unredacted document, first obtained by Newsroom, shows sections of legal and commercial privilege that were originally removed from the version released publicly by MBIE.

    Greenpeace' Aotearoa's executive director Russel Norman said: "Climate action requires people and governments all over the world to act together in good faith to cut emissions. When the New Zealand government signs up to international agreements to cut emissions, and embeds these commitments in free trade agreements, other governments expect New Zealand to honour these commitments."

    Trade Minister Todd McClay : is he frickin serious? ( I bypassed Jones wank comment..more than enough of him already )

    .. NZ's best Environmental Interests ? And our World image ?

    Trade Minister Todd McClay told RNZ the government took its international obligations seriously,

    "New Zealand's trade agreements, including the UK and EU FTA's, include specific clauses that recognise New Zealand's (and our trading partners) right to pass law in the best interest of New Zealand – including environmental and energy policies," he said.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/529537/government-s-repeal-on-oil-and-gas-ban-risked-nz-s-reputation-with-trading-partners

    NACT1 off on a wild goose gas chase….all for what?

  12. Mac1 12
    1 October 2024 at 9:57 pm

    Submitted- thanks for advice.

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