UPDATE 6/11/24:
The Bill successfully passed its second reading on Wednesday 6 November.

Despite a large number of submissions being made, the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill (Bill) has emerged from the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee largely unchanged. Although there was no concrete recommendation from the Select Committee, the Bill will most likely be passed due to its support from the coalition government. 

We discuss the Select Committee’s report and changes to the Bill below. 

Select Committee process 

The Bill had its first reading on 24 September, was subsequently referred to the Select Committee, and on 26 September, the Government announced that submissions were open. The window for submissions was incredibly short, with submitters only having 5 days to present their views. Given the controversial nature of the Bill, the short window for submissions was widely criticised in the media. 

The Bill went through a truncated Select Committee process, where the Select Committee (made up of three Labour members, two National Party members, and one member each from the ACT, New Zealand First, and Green parties) considered submitters’ views on the Bill with a view to reaching a consensus on both a recommendation and amendments. 

The Select Committee reported back on the Bill a week earlier than expected and made its overall recommendation (or lack thereof) on the Bill as follows: 

“The Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee has examined the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill. Because our votes were tied, we were unable to agree on whether the bill should be passed. We were also unable to agree whether to recommend amendments. However, we agreed to instruct Parliamentary Counsel to draft a revision-tracked version of the bill, with some amendments”.

It seems that the make-up of the Select Committee and the controversial nature of the Bill has led to the Select Committee taking a very hands-off approach in its review of the Bill. We think this is a missed opportunity to make further improvements to the Bill. 

Select Committee recommendation and amendments 

While largely underwhelming, we summarise the Select Committee’s amendments to the Bill below. You can read the full Select Committee report here.

Financial securities for decommissioning

The Select Committee has proposed various minor changes to the financial security provisions to clarify the nature and scope of the obligations and to ensure that the amendments proposed by the Bill have been carried consistently throughout relevant provisions of the CMA. 

• The Select Committee has proposed changes to the definitions of “acceptable financial security arrangement” and “financial security arrangement”. Although appearing substantive in form, the changes are largely stylistic and clarifying changes to ensure that it is clear that financial security arrangements can be held across permits and licences - ie that holders of several permits can provide one financial arrangement to cover all their liabilities. The definition also clarifies that a financial security arrangement can be held by one or more permit holders / licence holders or other participants.
• Consequential amendments have also been proposed to the operative financial security provisions (sections 89L onwards of the CMA), again with the intention of clarifying that financial security arrangements can be held across multiple permits and licences and permit holders do not need to enter into separate arrangements for each permit or licence they hold. 

Post-decommissioning liability

The Select Committee has also proposed limited changes to the post-decommissioning obligations currently contained in sections 89ZV to 89ZZ of the CMA to clarify that a person with post-decommissioning obligations under the CMA is also liable to meet the costs of post-decommissioning work where provided for in other legislation such as the Resource Management Act (RMA) and the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012 (EEZ Act). 

This is not a departure from the current law, but does make clear the interaction between the CMA, the RMA, and the EEZ Act, and resolves any ambiguity that may arise about the continuing obligations of permit holders. 

Other changes 

The Select Committee also proposed minor changes to the mining permit provisions to enable the duration of a permit to be extended for the purpose of completing mine-closure activities. 

Next steps 

Despite the Select Committee’s less than satisfactory report, there remains an opportunity for the Bill to be further refined through Amendment Papers (formerly Supplementary Order Papers) and the remainder of the Parliamentary process. The Bill successfully passed its second reading on Wednesday 6 November. It will now need to successfully pass the Committee of the Whole House stage and its third reading.

We will continue to report on the Bill’s progress as it progresses through the House.

Contact us 

We have experience with processes under the CMA, including permitting and compliance. If you would like to discuss the potential implications of the Bill and what it may mean for you, please contact a member of our team.

Special thanks to Isabel van Tuinen for contributing to this article.