NZ reverses Ardern era ban on offshore oil and gas exploration

Resources minister Shane Jones described that 2018 ban as ‘the worst energy (and) natural resource decision’ in New Zealand’s history.

Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Picture: AFP

New Zealand’s government voted on Thursday to open the country for new oil and gas exploration, reversing a ban put in place under former prime minister Jacinda Ardern.

Resources Minister Shane Jones – who described climate change as “largely moral hysteria” – said new laws would stoke investment in petroleum exploration and help ease winter energy supply issues. “The ill-fated exploration ban in 2018 has exacerbated shortages in our domestic gas supply by obliterating new investment,” Mr Jones said.

Ms Ardern banned new offshore exploration to much fanfare in 2018, citing the nation’s “clean, green and sustainable future”.

New Zealand Resources Minister Shane Jones says new laws would stoke investment in petroleum exploration and help ease winter energy supply issues. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Jones described that ban as “the worst energy (and) natural resource decision” in New Zealand’s history. “We are not going to … corrode the productivity of our economy by denying ourselves access to fossil fuels,” he said. “The high tide mark of that heresy has come and gone.”

During a vigorous debate over the laws, Mr Jones was asked if he consulted with indigenous Maori.

“I interviewed myself,” said Mr Jones, who is Maori. “I spoke to no climate group. I spoke to no (Maori) group. I engaged with the people who are investing and who will be the risk takers to salvage and rescue this sector, and I’m extraordinarily proud of myself that I’ve done that.”

It was a stark U-turn for Mr Jones, who was a minister in Ms Ardern’s government when the 2018 exploration ban was passed. Mr Jones had voted in favour of the ban. He recently described his former colleague Ms Ardern as a “political fugitive” who had fled the country to teach at Harvard.

Opposition energy spokeswoman Megan Woods said the government was putting “the interests of the oil and gas companies at the forefront”, calling the move “one of the most ridiculous things I have heard”.

Green Party MP Steve Abel said the government was “wrongheaded and archaic”.

The government had planned to pass the legislation by the end of 2024, but it was delayed several times. A drafting error was cited as a reason. The bill has many critics and was opposed by all ­opposition parties. It was voted through by a count of 68-54.

Ms Ardern, who led the country between 2017 and 2023, was seen as a champion of the environment, banning offshore gas exploration and declaring New Zealand faced a “climate emergency”.

In the years since, energy prices have increased more than 10 per cent, even as households used less power. The state-owned Transpower, which manages the power grid, has said there is a higher risk of blackouts next winter, due to a lack of energy supply.

AFP