Peachey Allan: Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Peachey Allan: Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:646;Page:15455] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the National Party to support the second reading of the Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill. I compliment the Minister who spoke before me Luamanuvao Winnie Laban on the sensitivity of her remarks. I know that none of us who serve electorates in this country and who have a concern for the people we represent would like this to have happened to any of those people. I pay my respects to the Minister. However I want to reflect for a moment on the comments on this bill from the New Zealand First member Ron Mark. His speech brought to the realisation of this House just how irrelevant that pathetic little rump of a party and its seriously diminished members have become. This is a highly serious matter. The only consolation I take from that is that the electorate itself will have figured that out. 
You know when we look at this bill we see another attempt by the Government to regulate. That is what we have come to expect from that crowd over there. One has to come back—[ 
Interruption 
] Let us listen to the Labour members. The rest of us have meetings in caucus rooms; they meet in the commissariat room. That sort of thinking leads the Government to believe that if it regulates regulates and regulates then it can control the lives of all New Zealanders. We must not lose sight of something the Prime Minister herself said. The Prime Minister—now in the dying gasping days of her administration—made the point that Mercury Energy was in breach of the social responsibilities written into the existing law under which State-owned enterprises operate. The Prime Minister made that point. So we need to ask why we are rushing into enacting legislation. What is the rush? This legislation is rushed. 
I acknowledge the efforts of the National Party members of the Commerce Committee who considered this bill for their common sense and for the tidying-up that has occurred as a result of their work. This country is fortunate that in this House there is an Opposition that does its job properly scrutinises proposed Government legislation with rigour and makes sure that we bring back to this House the very best legislation that can come out of a select committee. 
Sue Moroney 
: And then they normally vote against it. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Oh well! We can hear the Government members over there; they are on their way out. 
I have to express some reservations about the bill. Is it really absolutely necessary to once again regulate particularly in light of what the Prime Minister who is now in her dying days as leader of the Government shared about Mercury Energy? But we have this legislation before us and we have to deal with it. The National Party is seeking to contribute positively and helpfully to the debate unlike the New Zealand First member who spoke earlier. 
I do not think there is a New Zealander—I certainly do not know of a New Zealander—who would not want to protect people who require electricity for something like critical medical care. There would not be a person in New Zealand I suspect who would not want that to be done. There would not be a person in New Zealand who was not upset and concerned about what happened. But members should just remember that Governments can regulate as much as they like but at the end of the day when all the chickens are in it is the conduct of individual people and the decisions they make that will determine outcomes. You see one of the reasons why this country is losing its direction relates to the silly interjections that come from the Government side of the House. Government members do not understand that by regulation making more rules meeting in their commissariat room and deciding what is best for the rest of us they fail to figure it out. But we know—this House knows—that very shortly those members will be gone.