Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations, and State Enterprises — New Zealand Antarctic Institute

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this part of this evening’s deliberation. I have got to say that most New Zealanders do not know too much about what goes on down in the Antarctic, except that, as our colleague across the floor said, it is cold. You have got to believe that. But there are some really interesting things that I would like to draw to the community’s attention—the wider New Zealand community, that is.

The New Zealand Antarctic Institute was established, I think, in about 1996, and its purpose is to develop, manage, and protect New Zealand’s interests in the Antarctic, in the Southern Ocean, and particularly in the Ross Sea region. It provides a lot of support for scientific research and conservation activities, and it has a job to raise public awareness of the efforts it is making in that part of the world. I have to say that I have now been in this Parliament for 7 years, and I have listened to Lou Sanson, the chief executive officer, and, more recently, Rob Fenwick, the chair of the Antarctic Institute, and consistently, this pair perform at a very, very high standard. They are very, very good people. They are a credit to our country. They run their books well—unmodified audit opinion—and they have very, very good information and control systems.

One of the big developments over the last year has been—and particularly supporting our Government’s emphasis on environmental issues—the Government funding the development and installation of three 330 kilowatt wind-powered turbines, which actually deliver more power per turbine than any other installation on the planet. They are performing at 140 percent of what they were expected to deliver, so that is pretty good. If we put in another four turbines, we will be able to support the Americans at their base just along the way from us, at McMurdo. That is hugely good for the planet. You have no carbon emissions, etc., but, more important, you have no waste and no risk of causing damage through some sort of oil leakage. I think the environmental stewardship of this programme is particularly good.

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: Who made them? Who project-managed it?

Nobody in your electorate, that is for sure. I think there is an international component that we also have to keep in mind here, because we are operating in the Antarctic in partnership with other countries. The institute helped Malaysia to accede to the Antarctic Treaty in October of last year, and we had a very big issue that the institute managed to cope with in respect of encouraging Korea to set up its base very close to our own but also to use Lyttelton as the key point of entry. One of the issues was that we did not at that point have the right sort of diesel fuel to run a ship down into the Antarctic. That problem got solved, thanks to our institute. We have also had a very good donation in the last year from the Norwegian Prime Minister, who provided $900,000 to the Antarctic Heritage Trust. All of these things are happening because we are running a really good operation down in the Antarctic, and, again, I congratulate the management and the staff of the institute.

Of course, the closest relationship we have down there on the ice is with the United States Antarctic Program. Our people are working very closely with the Americans on logistical arrangements, and I want to thank the Minister of Defence, who is sitting here in the House tonight, for making available a 757 as part of our overall contribution to joint logistics with the Americans. The Americans have had a bit of difficulty over the last year because they lost an ice-breaker and an ice pier, and they have had to ship in a floating pontoon system into the area. So working with them helps rationalise the logistical arrangements for the difficult job of getting people from Christchurch down into the Antarctic.

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: The Antarctic’s exciting. Don’t make it boring.

Yes, and I can think of some lovely people I would like to send down to the Antarctic and leave there to permanently freeze, to become exhibits for future polar explorers. With those words, I have nothing further to say and will end. Thank you.

Report noted.

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