Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Foreign Affairs): I've not taken advice to Cabinet regarding the specific issue of an international moratorium on deep-sea mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction. However, protecting and preserving the marine environment is a key objective for Aotearoa New Zealand, and I've engaged closely on this issue with ministerial colleagues including the Ministers of oceans and fisheries, conservation, and the environment. Our current focus is engaging activity, and in good faith, in the International Seabed Authority (ISA) process, to ensure the effective protection of the marine environment. To that end, we've been vocal in our calls for no deep-sea mining to proceed without robust environmental protections. At the most recent ISA negotiations in March 2022, New Zealand worked with Chile and Costa Rica to advance a significant proposal to improve environmental decision-making and environmental standards in the ISA regulations.