Following the new block offer yesterday by Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges, Green Party mining spokesman Gareth Hughes said the Government had ignored the risks of deep sea oil and the risks to marine life, including the 55 remaining Maui's dolphins.
''The Government is putting oil profits ahead of protecting our precious places. Areas of the West Coast North Island marine mammal sanctuary, as well as the Victoria Forest Park, are still included in the permits.''
The strategy of luring oil companies to New Zealand was failing and the block offer showed how increasingly desperate the Government was becoming.
The latest block was larger than the size of Greenland, he said.
If the Government had its way, there would soon be virtually no areas of New Zealand not offered up cheaply to big overseas oil companies, he said.
The Government must listen to the concern about its reckless oil and gas plans and invest instead in renewables and a transition to a green and sustainable economy, he said.
