The issue to place a moratorium on seabed mining has once again made it to Parliament.
Local Government and Environment Select Committee were presented with a message from KASM (Kiwis Against Seabed Mining) to put a halt on seabed mining in New Zealand waters until a better understanding of the risks and impacts are provided.
Phil McCabe from KASM says, "There is a bunch of stuff out there that we have the opportunity to turn into money. And I get that, I see the attraction, I'm a business person myself. The question is whether we have the knowledge or the ability to do that, to extract that material in a safe and responsible way. We don't have that knowledge now to do that safely."
In September last year, Mr. McCabe lead a petition calling for a moratorium on all seabed mining which was later presented to Parliament. McCabe also said to the Select Committee today, “The financial benefits of seabed mining may not be as vast as speculated.”
Rino Tirikatene from Labour was in Select Committee and agreed that a more cautious approach should be taken. "We just need to ‘taihoa’ and do some proper research, and not put all the pressure on the communities to fight against all these corporate interests," saysTirikatene.
However, Nuk Korako of National says that a moratorium might not be the best solution. "Do we need a moratorium on this? Taking into account, there has been a really robust system in place, and when you look at all those applications, actually most of them have been turned down," says Korako.
The Select Committee will be looking into Phil McCabe's submission over the next week.