The council on Tuesday became the fifth local authority in New Zealand to call for a moratorium on the controversial oil and gas extraction process, pending results of a nationwide investigation due by November.
The decision prompted Mr Woodhouse to question in Parliament yesterday whether the council was now "equivocal" in its support for possible oil and gas exploration off the city's coast.
The list of businesses that had moved head offices away from Dunedin showed why the city's civic leaders should back oil and gas exploration, as long as the risks could be managed, he said.
"I can't stand by and look the people of Dunedin in the eye and say it's sad what happened to Hillside ... and then turn around to say we are equivocal about oil and gas exploration," he said.
Instead, he threw his support behind oil and gas exploration, saying it would be "great" for the city, and called on others to do the same, "in particular, the Dunedin City Council".
Mr Cull said when contacted he was at a loss to understand Mr Woodhouse's comments.
"I don't know how he could infer any attitude at all about oil and gas on the part of council from that meeting."
The decision to join calls for a moratorium was passed 7-6 by councillors at Tuesday's planning and environment committee meeting, but applied only to new fracking and had not been acted upon by the Government.
Mr Cull said the call for a moratorium "made no judgement" about the safety of fracking, or the merits of offshore oil and gas exploration.
Instead, it urged only a precautionary approach until results of the official investigation, being carried out by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright, were known.
The council had no policy on oil and gas extraction, as any offshore extraction would be outside the council's jurisdiction.
However, the council was aware there could be an opportunity for a support and logistical services base should offshore drilling proceed, and was "watching this space".
"At the same time, council would be expected to express the community's concern that all possible safety and mitigation ...measures were put in place if drilling were to occur off our coast, because of the risks ... "
