Ardern says Government 'actively considering' call to end oil exploration

Monday, 19 March 2018

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has delayed attending a state visit to personally receive a Greenpeace petition calling for the end of oil exploration.

Standing in front of a series of posters of Labour leaders which had made high profile environmental decisions, Ardern said her Government was 'actively considering' the issue.

Although her statement was light on details and Ardern has previously refused to rule out ending offering new exploration blocks, the decision to walk to the front of Parliament was highly symbolic.

Several hours later Ardern appeared to play down the comments and National has dismissed the move as a 'quickly invented publicity stunt'.

'We're working hard on this issue and we know that it's one that we can't afford to spend much time on,' Ardern said at the Greenpeace rally.

READ MORE: Greenpeace activists want their day in court over oil protest

'But we are actively considering it now and we are considering all of these issues in mind and with this government's pledge that we will be carbon neutral by 2050, that's not in question.

'But these are the intermediate decisions that we have to make in between. So while I ask for time, I'm not asking for much. But just enough that we can make sure that we factor in everything that you would ask us to factor in,' Ardern said, including 'grave environmental concerns'.

Ardern told the crowd she was supposed to be attending a state visit but had elected to receive the petition because of its importance. Behind her the Parliament flagpole was flying the Indonesian flag to mark the visit of President Joko Widodo.

By 4pm Ardern appeared to walk back the comments, saying consideration of what to do with the process under which areas are offered for oil exploration was something that 'every government does around this time of year'.

National leader Simon Bridges said there was nothing in the announcement.

'I think this is a quickly-invented publicity stunt by the Prime Minister to distract from her week from hell,' Bridges said, accusing Ardern of giving different messages to different audiences.

'By all accounts it seems the Prime Minister was trying to give an impression of high symbolism, of leaving a foreign leader waiting because this was such a pressing issue,' Bridges said.

'The reality of her post-Cabinet press conference was much more business as usual.'

Bridges speculated Labour would make nothing more than process changes around the way the Government offered exploration areas to industry.

'If we are to transition to a low carbon economy, we will continue to need fossil fuels and particularly gas, just to keep the lights on.'

Since taking office the Labour-led Government has been under mounting pressure to end oil exploration in New Zealand.

Greenpeace said the petition was signed by 45,000 people, including Dame Jane Campion, Taika Waititi and actor Lucy Lawless.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Kate Simcock said Ardern had won praise for describing climate change as New Zealand's 'nuclear free moment' but now had to put the words into action.

'The world can't afford to burn even existing fossil fuel reserves let alone seek out new oil and gas if we want to avoid catastrophic warming.'

Energy Minister Megan Woods is due to speak to the New Zealand Petroleum Conference, an event run by lobby group Pepanz, in Wellington next week.

Pepanz chief executive Cameron Madgwick said while Ardern's statements suggested no decision had been made, the move on Monday did appear to point to a direction the Government was going.

'Coming out to accept a petition from an environmental NGO [non government organisation] would appear to suggest that a decision may already be very close to being made,' Madgwick said.

The organisation did not know what to make of the Prime Minister's actions, because the only written statements from Labour was an energy policy which stated an ongoing role for oil exploration.

'The country will still use oil and gas production for many, many years to come, even if we don't look for them here or produce them here.'