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“The Corporate Capture of Aotearoa’s Waters: How Oil and Gas Lobbyists Rewrote New Zealand’s Laws” - 25 November 2025

Hidden Connections: Who Profits from the Unravelling?

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

25 Nov 2025 — 14 min read

Cui bono? — Who benefits? Multinational oil and gas corporations.

Cui malo? — Who suffers? Taxpayers. Whānau. Mokopuna. Māori communities who were excluded from decisions affecting their rohe and moana.

In November 2025, RNZ’s investigative journalist Kirsty Johnston unveiled a meticulously documented web of corporate capture that exposed how the oil and gas industry achieved what seemed impossible:

rewriting environmental law in their favour while taxpayers absorbed the risk. What follows is not speculation. It is verified fact, drawn from confidential government documents, Official Information Act releases, and public testimony. It is a case study in how corporate power corrodes democratic sovereignty.

The Tui Lesson Nobody Learned (Except the Industry)

In 2019, Tamarind Taranaki—a Malaysian-registered company—abandoned the Tui oil field, leaving a $300 million bill to taxpayers. The company had borrowed heavily to drill, struck no commercial oil, and vanished. New Zealand had no law requiring former permit holders to remain liable for cleanup costs. The Crown inherited the liability.rnz+1

In response, Labour’s Dr Megan Woods introduced the Crown Minerals (Decommissioning and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021. This law created automatic trailing liability—meaning even if a company sold a permit to another entity, the original operator remained responsible for cleanup costs in perpetuity. Directors could face criminal penalties. It was designed to prevent another Tui.mbie

It worked. After 2021, companies had to hold financial security, and the Crown’s exposure diminished.russellmcveagh

Then in late 2023, when the coalition government took office, the industry saw an opening.

Excluded from Democracy: Iwi were shut out while corporations rewrote law in confidential meetings

Stage One: The Lobbying Campaign (Late 2023–Early 2024)

Resources Minister Shane Jones, a New Zealand First MP and self-described “champion of industry,” took office vowing not just to repeal the 2018 offshore exploration ban but to go further. Internal briefing papers released to RNZ show the lobbying began immediately after the coalition formed.teaonews+1

The industry group Energy Resources Aotearoa (ERA)—representing OMV, Todd Energy, Methanex, and others—wrote directly to Jones in January 2024 arguing the 2021 law was a “political over-reaction”. They called the trailing liability regime a “gross overreach.”rnz

Notice: Some of the executives at these meetings had been involved in the Tui collapse. Yet Jones invited them to confidential briefings anyway.

Greenpeace executive director Russel Norman said:

“That shows an extraordinary sense of self entitlement from the oil and gas industry. That these same companies and same individuals are back in the room demanding that a loophole in the law be reopened so that the taxpayer has to pick up the bill once again for their mess—it’s really striking.”.rnz

Stage Two: Access, Privilege, and the Rewriting of Law (2024–July 2025)

Between March 2024 and July 2025, the oil and gas industry received what no environmental group, no iwi, and no public interest organization received: confidential access to draft legislation.

The briefing papers show ERA was given “confidential pre-consultation on the options being considered to amend the decommissioning regime”.rnz

Jones met with OMV, Todd Energy, and Methanex frequently, sharing “in-house updates on his amendment bill and signalling progress before the public or even Cabinet had seen the proposals”.rnz

Officials also held closed-door workshops with industry ahead of ministerial decisions, circulated draft policy “in confidence,” and incorporated several company requests directly into the working text.rnz

The most striking detail: In one briefing, officials noted that OMV “intend to convey their thanks for the changes,” even though the legislation was not yet public and had not been signed off by Cabinet.rnz

Gratitude before Parliament even saw the bill. That is not consultation. That is corporate capture.

Stage Three: The Discretion Switch (November 2024–July 2025)

By November 2024, officials moved to tighten the law, extending liability to controlling shareholders as well as prior permit holders. This would have closed the loophole the industry sought to exploit.rnz

Industry revolted. The ERA called it “piercing the corporate veil” and said liability should never be automatic.rnz

What happened next reveals the true mechanism of corporate capture. Officials did not stand firm. Instead, they developed an alternative model—one that replaced automatic liability with ministerial discretion—and confidentially discussed it with Todd and OMV, who indicated the approach was an “improvement”.rnz

Then officials shared the draft Amendment Paper with the companies, including OMV, for feedback on the “workability” of the discretionary liability provisions.rnz

OMV’s feedback resulted in officials clarifying the drafting to confirm the guarantee was limited to “unmet costs” or a “proportion of those unmet costs,” reducing the scope of potential liability OMV would face.rnz

Translation: The company negotiated down its own legal obligations. And won.

Stage Four: The 11th-Hour Amendment (31 July 2025)

On 31 July 2025, with less than 23 hours before Parliamentary debate, a 25-page Supplementary Order Paper was released at 5pm, revealing the final law. Opposition MPs had mere hours to prepare.rnz

The Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025 overturned the offshore exploration ban and replaced automatic trailing liability with ministerial discretion.rnz

This is the trap. Under the amended law, the Resources Minister and the Finance Minister can now decide case-by-case whether former operators must pay at all.rnz

This is not law. This is discretionary power—and discretionary power is where corruption lives. Ministers can waive liability. They can require it. They can demand company donations or political favours in exchange for lenient treatment. The law became a blank cheque.

Corporate Capture: Oil executives negotiate law behind closed doors while iwi remain excluded

On 31 July 2025, Parliament passed the bill 68 votes to 54.rnz

Who Was Left Out of the Room?

This is crucial. Iwi and environmental groups were not consulted on the final draft.rnz

Consider the breach of te Tiriti:

The Crown Minerals Act requires all persons exercising functions to “have regard to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”—partnership, protection, and participation. Oil executives received confidential access to draft legislation. Māori received nothing. Not consultation. Not notice. Not partnership.nzpam

This is a clear violation of rangatiratanga—Māori self-determination.

The Climate Cost: 14.2 Million Tonnes of CO₂-Equivalent

The Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025 does not exist in a vacuum. Officials warned ministers that reopening exploration and boosting gas supply is expected to increase emissions by around 14.2 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent, putting significant pressure on the next two emissions budgets.rnz

That is not a minor adjustment. That is a deliberate decision to increase climate emissions. And it was made after confidential consultations with the companies that profit from it.

The Financial Subsidy: $200 Million of Whānau Money

The giveaway did not stop at rewriting liability law. In Budget 2025, Resources Minister Shane Jones revealed a contingency fund of $200 million over four years for the Crown to co-invest in new gas fields.beehive

Energy Resources Aotearoa hailed this as “pragmatic and long-overdue action to secure New Zealand’s energy future”.energyresources

Translation: Taxpayers’ money—money that could fund renewable energy, healthcare, or education—is instead going to underwrite oil and gas exploration risk.

The Green Party commissioned legal advice concluding this breaches New Zealand’s international obligations under the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability. The government is in breach of its own trade agreement.rnz

The Cost: Tui Oil Field collapse left taxpayers with $300 million bill and environmental scars

The Revolving Door: John Carnegie and Regulatory Capture

This is where the pattern becomes systemic. John Carnegie is the Chief Executive of Energy Resources Aotearoa.rnz

In December 2024, Energy Minister Simeon Brown appointed Carnegie to the board of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA)—the government agency responsible for helping businesses and households switch away from fossil fuels.

While heading ERA, Carnegie lobbied the government to guarantee demand for gas from offshore fossil fuel fields.rnz

He also criticized EECA’s grants for moving to electric boilers, calling them “state-subsidised demand destruction”.rnz

Now he sits on EECA’s board. This is the definition of regulatory capture: the regulated industry capturing the regulator.

The Responses: Who Spoke Truth

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the level of access granted to the oil and gas companies during the legislative rewrite was “insane.”rnz

“The question the minister could have asked was ‘how do we get the best solutions for New Zealanders and our environment?’ but instead he just asked one of the most unscrupulous industries on the planet to help draft our laws,” Swarbrick said.

Labour’s energy spokesperson Megan Woods—who introduced the 2021 protective law as a minister—said Jones was putting the interest of oil and gas companies before the interests of the taxpayer.rnz

“Shane Jones caved. As a minister he did not stand up for New Zealanders. He is showing legislation to a very narrow group of people who have a clear vested interest, rather than consulting widely,” Woods said.

Jones responded by claiming the consultation was “normal and integral” to legislative progress.

That is not a denial. That is an admission, rebranded.

The Quantified Harm: What This Means for Whānau

$293 million already spent cleaning up after one company collapse
Up to $8 billion in future liability the Crown may now absorb
14.2 million additional tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions locked in
$200 million in public money underwriting corporate risk
Zero iwi participation in decisions affecting their rohe and moana
Ministerial discretion replacing law—opening doors to corruption

This is not energy policy. This is systematic wealth transfer from the public to corporations.

Mātauranga and Mauri: The Deeper Harm

From a tikanga perspective, this legislation violates the principle of kaitiakitanga—guardianship of the environment. It subordinates environmental protection to corporate profit. It treats the moana not as tūpuna (ancestors deserving respect) but as a resource for extraction.

It violates manaakitanga by deliberately excluding iwi from decisions that affect their wellbeing. It treats Māori as irrelevant to their own future.

It depletes mauri—life force—by accelerating fossil fuel extraction when the climate is already in crisis. Every tonne of CO₂-equivalent emitted diminishes the mauri of the atmosphere, the ocean, and whānau health for generations.

The Mechanism of Corporate Capture

What happened in the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill is not accidental. It follows a documented pattern:

Access asymmetry: Industry gets confidential briefings. The public and iwi get nothing.
Revolving door: Regulators become lobbyists, and lobbyists become regulators.
Discretion inflation: Laws are rewritten to grant ministers discretionary power instead of binding rules. Discretion is where corruption thrives.
Subsidy masquerading as investment: Governments call corporate handouts “co-investment” to obscure the transfer of public wealth.
Regulatory reversal: Laws protecting taxpayers (the 2021 trailing liability regime) are dismantled and replaced with corporate-friendly discretion.

Each step is legal. Each step is documented. And each step is a betrayal of rangatiratanga.

What Needs to Happen

The Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025 must be repealed. Not amended. Repealed. And replaced with law that:

Restores automatic trailing liability for all former permit holders, with no ministerial discretion
Mandates genuine consultation with iwi and hapū at every stage of permit decisions
Bans fossil fuel subsidies including the $200 million “co-investment” fund
Requires climate impact assessments before any exploration permits are granted
Enforces full financial security requirements upfront, with no exemptions
Ends the revolving door: Former industry employees cannot hold regulatory positions for five years after leaving the sector

This is not radical. It is the bare minimum to restore democratic governance over corporate capture.

Rangatiratanga or Corporate Rule?

The Crown Minerals Amendment Act 2025 represents a choice. Not between oil and alternatives. Between democracy and capture. Between te ao Māori—where whānau, environment, and future generations matter—and corporate supremacy, where profit flows upward and risk flows downward onto taxpayers.

The RNZ investigation by Kirsty Johnston proved what Māori activists have said for years: This government does not govern for whānau. It governs for corporations. The evidence is documented, verified, and undeniable.

Whānau now know the names: Jones, Carnegie, OMV, Todd Energy, Methanex. They know the mechanism. They know the cost.

What remains is action. Because documents do not change the world. Whānau do.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformaiton And Disinformation From The Far Right

Citations verify every factual claim in this essay. Each assertion is grounded in Official Information Act releases, court documents, government statements, and investigative journalism. This is evidence, not opinion.

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