Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Associate Minister for Energy Shane Jones has vowed to fix the "the most destructive decision in the history of New Zealand's industry" by restarting the oil and gas industry.
His comments came from a scrutiny hearing which quickly turned into an opportunity to attack the previous government - particularly former prime minister Jacinda Ardern and former energy minister Megan Woods - and for banning oil and gas exploration in 2018.
The hearing became tense at times, with committee chair Dr Parmjeet Parma having to interrupt to make sure opposition MPs stuck to questioning guidelines.
How a $200 million contingency fund for fossil fuel development at gas fields would be allocated, and the viability of oil and gas extraction took up much of the debate.
Asked by former energy minister Megan Woods how the fund would be spent, Jones said some would be set aside to administer the fund, but would not elaborate because of its commercial sensitivity.
"It is unwise in a game of commercial negotiation card games to play all your cards in public; you do that in the context of a transaction.
"Obviously, we will settle upon some publicly available criteria, and we'll work that through, but we are not going to talk about conditions or the finickiness of a particular transaction in public space," Jones said.
Asked by Woods if the permits would be confined to the South Island, Jones said he wanted to "open up" the whole of the South Island.
Woods said hundreds of millions had already been spent exploring the Great South Basin, which came up "dry".
Green MP Steve Abel. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
Green MP Steve Abel questioned whether there was any gas to be found at all.
"The minister is speculating that there is some volume of gas to be found… is the minister aware that all of those companies relinquished their permits before the ban was put in place because they had prospected and found nothing?"
While no one had a "perfect knowledge" about where gas could be found and people had spent a lot of money looking for it, Jones said, banning exploration had a "chilling effect".
"The moment that the oil and gas industry was cancelled through the ideological blender of Jacinda Ardern, it had a chilling effect, and people then knew under the regime of that exiled politician, there was no future for fossil fuels," Jones said.
Abel accused Jones of leaning into "Trumpian climate denialism" by repeatedly launching attack at the former prime minister and energy minister and wearing a "drill baby drill" hat.
"I accept that there is an ideological, or philosophical, or scientific debate to be held as to whether or not the provision of further gas into our economy is going to worsen our climate credentials," Jones said.
"You and I have a different view about climate. I happen to think that it's largely moral hysteria. I have said this for many years. That is why I'm a proud supporter of the extractive fossil fuels industry."
Abel said Jones was "putting all your eggs" into an assumption gas would be found, despite there being a shortage before a ban was in place and asked if he would support renewables like solar and wind.
"I am not antagonistic to anyone who wants to make money and generate energy out of Tamanuiterā, the sun, or Tāwhirimātea, the wind," Jones said.
"But what does New Zealand do when the rain doesn't come, the wind doesn't blow, and the sun doesn't shine. It turns on Huntly, and Huntly runs on coal or can run on gas."
New Zealand as a modern economy needs a medium to long term supply of peaking resource or gas, Jones said.
"A point is being made, Madam Chair, that historically, there wasn't a great deal of luck for earlier exploratory efforts, but we didn't know at that point how perilous the supply was going to become."
Again, Jones attacked former prime minister Ardern who he said was "no longer a politician" because she lived in "exile".
Raising a point of order, Abel asked the chair to intervene and restrict Jones "constantly politicising" the issue.
Jones said he should step away from the ideological debates because he was "obviously" winning.
In a media release, Woods said the $200 million fund was an "an irresponsible choice" and would delay a transition away from fossil fuels.
"Shane Jones says he wants to open up the entire South Island to oil and gas exploration when companies have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars looking for fossil fuels without finding any.
"A responsible government needs to take a long-term view of where opportunities lie in our regions and where opportunities lie for New Zealanders in work.
"The Minister is showing absolutely no ability to do that and is focused on a fairy tale," Woods said.
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