Sowry Roger: Wellington Regional Council (Water Board Functions) Bill — In Committee 
Sowry Roger: Wellington Regional Council (Water Board Functions) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:623;Page:18937] 
Hon ROGER SOWRY (National) 
: 
 I want to thank Marian Hobbs for taking a call on Part 2. I accept that the bill is exactly as she says and does not force the Wellington Regional Council to get into ownership. I absolutely accept that. The Minister is dead right: Genesis Energy and others will be keen to invest in wind generation on some of this land. I am sure that Meridian Energy and others will be pretty keen as well. That is all really good and I am very pleased about that. She and I would have no disagreement—in fact I do not think anyone in the Committee would have any disagreement—that given that we are giving the council the power to put the wind generation on the land it should get out and do it with these companies. 
On one point I am not sure from the Minister’s comments whether I differ from her or whether it is just a different level of faith. I do not like the fact that the bill is open-ended and allows the regional council to own those facilities. I do not have the same level of faith that the Minister may have that this regional council or one in the future will not go off on some nutty business plan and decide to invest in a wind farm. I guess it is that point that I want to make to the Minister and to the other Wellington regional MPs who are very keen to prance around with the regional council and say they are the only ones who represent the district. 
It is interesting that apart from Marian Hobbs no Wellington member of Parliament from the Labour Party—and there are several in the Chamber—has bothered to stand up and say whether he or she is happy about his or her constituents taking the risk. Winnie Laban has not been prepared to stand up and say that she thinks ratepayers in Porirua should be prepared to pay extra rates and take a risk. I think that is appalling. Those members should be on record as to whether they support this. 
I give the example of the train service. There are people on the Wellington Regional Council whom Wellington regional members of Parliament know who want the council to operate the trains. They want it to take the risk and do the whole thing itself. I think the majority of the Labour members in the region myself and certainly the ACT members—I am not sure about United Future members—are at one in thinking that the regional council should not be operating them. We think it should be tendering that out to someone else to operate. The mayors of the region are saying exactly the same thing. In fact the mayors are unanimous. They are saying they do not want the regional council to play with their money in owning the trains. 
I think the mayors would be unanimous about the council getting into electricity generation as well. They would not want the Wellington Regional Council getting into electricity generation. So I do not think we should be passing a bill that allows the regional council to become a generator of electricity. I do not believe that that is in the best interests of ratepayers. I believe that what would happen is that ratepayers on fixed incomes would object strongly to having to pick up the losses. 
I want it noted on the record that some of the members who represent the biggest number of people on fixed incomes—and in Winnie Laban’s case some of the poorest people in the region—are happy to sit silent and let those people take the risk. If Winnie Laban were sitting on this side of the House in Opposition she would be standing up to say she does not want the people of Porirua East to take the risk. I think she would say that. But she will not say it today. I predict that in the future when this turns sour she will say that the council should not have done that. 
Well I want her and the other Wellington regional members to know that they will be held to account for this. At the moment the regional council looks like it is sensible. It is a good sensible council. Marian Hobbs is nodding. She might also nod if I said it has not always been like that and it will not always be like it in the future. That is why I am worried about there being no clause to stop the council from going off on some sort of plan and whim of some officer in the council. 
Part 2 agreed to.