Energy Minister Megan Woods says people had enough time to submit on the oil and gas ban bill

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Energy Minister Megan Woods are defending the 'inadequate' consultation period for the oil and gas ban bill photo / Mark Mitchell

Energy Minister Megan Woods is adamant people had enough time to submit on the oil and gas ban legislation, despite having just a two-week consultation period.

But National was not convinced. Its Energy Spokesman Jonathan Young said many key stakeholders were kept out of the loop.

And the body responsible for advising Parliament on policy and legislation also expressed its concern with the short consultation process, calling it "inadequate".

This week, the Environment Select Committee – the group of MPs tasked with refining the bill and seeking public consultation – released its report on the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Bill.

It received almost 2250 submissions, but the bill passed through the committee with just a few minor changes.

The public had roughly two weeks to submit on the bill and suggest any changes they think should be made. This was a shorter time period than most other bill consultation periods.

But Young said this was simply not enough time.

Despite the high number of submissions, he said there would be potentially thousands of others who missed out on the submission because of the short timeframe.

"Not only is it rude to people, but in fact you don't get a sense of the effect of this legislation and also you don't hear the solutions that people have in how they can contribute to better law."

And he was not the only one not happy with the process.

In a submission to the committee, Paul Rishworth, Chairman of the Legislation Design and Advisory Committee – the body responsible for advising Parliament on policy and legislation – raised issues with the bill's process.

It said the consultation process was "inadequate".

"There is no suggestion that an extra week or two in the legislative process [select committee] would have a major adverse effect," it said.

It made reference to the Treasury's analysis on the bill, which said: "Due to time limitations and analytical constraints arising from the Cabinet's previous decisions, MBIE did not consult the petroleum industry and the public on the proposals."

Rishworth said this showed the limitations and constraints of having such a short consulting period.

But Woods shrugged off concerns that the consultation period was too short and referenced the thousands of submission the select committee received.

"I think the people who wanted to have a say, had a say," she said this morning.

"This is something we announced in April. The Prime Minister and I have been meeting with communities and the industry since April and have been having discussions about it.

"I think this has been a well talked about piece of work and it's important that we supply that certainty."

Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the reason for the short consultation process was so the bill could pass so the Government could run the block offer 2018 process.

The bill is expected to pass its third reading next week.