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Andrew Dickens: The bigger problem isn't oil · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: The New Zealand government has officially granted the first new
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  Speaker 1: offshore oil and gas exploration permit since reversing its ban.
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  Speaker 1: They've awarded it to Adelaide based Australian explorer in Zien Energy.
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  Speaker 1: So in Zien Energy it's an Australian startup. This is
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  Speaker 1: their first rodeo and they're putting it all on the line.
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  Speaker 1: They get a twelve year petroleum exploration permit for a
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  Speaker 1: five hundred and forty six square kilometersign. This is offshore Tartanaki,
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  Speaker 1: east of the Kupe gas field. Now, Yesterday's made a
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  Speaker 1: lot of the fact that NZ We're the only applicants,
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  Speaker 1: but of course others have said that's because the opposition
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  Speaker 1: is still threatening that ban and that that band could
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  Speaker 1: come back, and that's giving explorers cold feet. Here's where
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  Speaker 1: I stand. I have absolutely no problem with exploration, never have.
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  Speaker 1: But I also have no problem with a ban. What
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  Speaker 1: I've always thought as a band can only happen if
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  Speaker 1: New Zealand has a viable replacement plan in place. When
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  Speaker 1: Labor introduced the ban, that was not the case. We
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  Speaker 1: cut off our nose to save our It seemed weird,
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  Speaker 1: but I also know that based on the past one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty years of expiration, the chances of a
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  Speaker 1: commercially viable find are low. So anyway, I say good
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  Speaker 1: on them and good luck. But when I was listening
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  Speaker 1: to the story yesterday, the takeaway for me is that
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  Speaker 1: the only people who can find the capital for this
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  Speaker 1: sort of work were Australians. No New Zealanders, no, no
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  Speaker 1: shell BP, Tork, no, none of that. And I think
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  Speaker 1: that shows up our basic economic weakness. We have a
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  Speaker 1: lack of capital for investment in anything, not just oil
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  Speaker 1: and gas, but for every big idea. We don't really
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  Speaker 1: need to find oil and gas, or we do, but
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  Speaker 1: we don't. What we really need to find is a
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  Speaker 1: money tree. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: listen live to News Talk set be from five am weekdays,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.