Introduction The Crown Minerals Amendment Bill was introduced into the
New Zealand Parliament by
New Zealand First Member of Parliament and Resources Minister
Shane Jones on 24 September 2024. That same day, it passed its first reading and was referred to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation select committee. Public submissions for the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill were held between 23 September and 1 October 2024. The select committee heard submissions from 5,524 interested groups and individuals, including 104 oral submissions. Due to the large volume of submissions and the short consultation timeframe, the committee focused on processing submissions from key stakeholders, randomly-selected groups and individuals and excluded form submissions and short submissions that were less than two sentences. The committee identified at least 640 submissions based on six online templates. The Resources Minister Jones also delivered an oral submission on 7 October 2024. 94.5% (5,219) of submitters opposed the bill. The select committee considered several proposed amendments including changes to the mine permits system, financial securities for the decommissioning of petroleum infrastructure and wells, post-decommissioning liability, government position statements, and Tier 3 permit provisions. Due to the split membership of the select committee, they were unable to agree on whether the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill should pass or whether to recommend amendments. However, the committee agreed to instruct the
Parliamentary Counsel Office to draft a revision-tracked version of the bill with some amendments. The report was submitted to Parliament on 25 October 2024. Both the Labour and Green parties issued "differing views" on the proposed bill. Labour opposed the bill on the grounds that it slowed down the transition towards more renewable forms of energy and posed serious climate emissions and international reputational implications for New Zealand. Labour pointed out that 96% of submissions the committee received were opposed to the bill. They contended that the bill would also adversely affect New Zealand's climate reduction targets, hurt New Zealand's international trading agreements and undermine Māori rights and interests under the
Treaty of Waitangi. They also expressed concern that the Government would make taxpayers responsible for paying the costs of decommissioning petroleum infrastructure and oil wells. Similarly, the Greens argued that ending the ban on oil and gas exploration would worsen climate change, hurt New Zealand's international reputation, and harm the environment, oceans and marine life. They also contended changes to the decommissioning regime posed a financial risk to the
New Zealand Crown and taxpayers.
Final readings The Crown Minerals Amendment Bill passed its second reading on 5 November 2024. It then passed through the Committee of the Whole House on 29 July 2025. Due to a last-minute motion by Jones, the bill was sent back to the committee stage for a recommittal to include an amendment designating the responsibility for paying the costs of decommissioning and cleaning the oil wells to the Minister for Resources and the
Minister of Finance instead of a model of trailing liability. The Bill passed its third and final reading on 31 July 2025. ==References==