Taurus eyes mining prizes with new Govt
different consenting regimes as Australia’s federal system itself presented different processes.
“For example, the Victorian Government is going to take either forever or knock it back. As opposed to Western Australia, which is one of the best jurisdictions globally as far as investment stability and certainty of process.
“We think that particularly with this fast track bill — and you don’t, fortunately, have an upper house to deal with in your Parliament — that will make New Zealand far more investable for people looking at the extractive industries globally.
“As minister Jones said, all of a sudden, mums and dads will be delighted because their daughters and sons won’t be going to Kalgoorlie to work; they will find a job here in NZ in their backyard.”
Jones said whether outfits like Taurus invested in New Zealand would be down to several factors, many of which were not within the control of the Government.
“Rule number one of the funds industry is don’t lose money, so no matter what the consenting regime or the social acceptance, nothing would happen if the investment didn’t stack up on its own and in comparison to other investments across the globe.
“So as professional money managers, putting dough into a volatile sector, which is otherwise known as the extractive sector, it’s not for the faint-hearted.”
Jones said his role was to give such investors a “greater understanding that we are moving towards a new regime to bring clarity and rationalism to the debate and the statutory approval processes for the extractive sector”.
“It was evident to them that my motto is all take coal before the dole, but they wanted lots of information about the fast track proposal.
“They wanted to know whether or not the media reports about opposition MPS saying that people would be stripped of their consents if they were given consents . . . should they put any weight on those statements?
Jones said he could not give a 100 per cent guarantee of what a future Parliament would do, but generally, politicians in New Zealand respected property rights.