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Calls for local communities to recieve more royalties from extraction

Author
Alex Mason,
Publish Date
Thu, 4 Sep 2014, 4:24PM
File photo (Supplied)
File photo (Supplied)

Calls for local communities to recieve more royalties from extraction

Author
Alex Mason,
Publish Date
Thu, 4 Sep 2014, 4:24PM

Updated 5.45pm: It's hoped sharing oil and gas royalties with local communities will help prevent future ghost towns.

In the five years to 2012, $1.69 billion in petroleum production was paid to the Crown.

Local Government New Zealand wants a share of mineral, oil and gas extraction royalties paid to the communities who bear the brunt of the cost of these activities.

President Lawrence Yule says it would help when a mine goes from boom to bust.

"Communities have been set up, some of them temporary, the mine finishes and you're left with a bit of a ghost town. The secret is to make sure that actually that community can continue to prosper."

He says a small share of that would make a difference to local communities who have to bear the infrastructure and environmental costs of the activity.

"Many communities say that while oil and gas and other mineral exploration may be good for jobs, there are a lot of other costs that could be helped with, and communities should get a share of those royalties."

Hauraki Mayor John Tregidga is chair of the Local Government New Zealand working party on royalties sharing.

He says mineral supplies don't last forever.

"When these minerals finish, we have to communities that lose a big part of their GDP, and their wealth, and that's not good enough in a modern society."

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