Sowry Roger: Electricity and Gas Industries Bill — In Committee 
Sowry Roger: Electricity and Gas Industries Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15861] 
Hon ROGER SOWRY (National) 
: 
 I want to thank the Minister for his comments and for responding to our concerns. I tell him that I understand his concerns about monopolistic behaviour. I understand the need to make sure that where there is someone with a monopoly he or she is not unfettered in the way that he or she could use those monopolistic powers. The point I would make to the Minister is twofold. Firstly before the Minister comes into the House with legislation as draconian as this he should let the market sort it out and we are seeing that with the gas pipeline. The second point I would make to the Minister which he did not notably address I thought was that the companies that have come to me and I am sure to him or at least to his officials—but the Minister does seem to engage with companies quite a bit—could not convince their parent companies to invest in New Zealand because of this law. 
Now that is the real worry—that companies cannot go back to their parent company and say “Let’s drill and if we find something let’s invest in the processing plant.” Because why would anyone sitting halfway around the world with a range of options as to where to invest money for a processing plant invest it in the one place that has on the books a law that says one’s competitors can have access to that plant at the Minister’s discretion? The Minister says that it is important to remember that he would act only on advice. 
Brian Connell 
: Who’s advice? 
Hon ROGER SOWRY 
: He says the industry’s advice. But if someone is sitting around the world and some hitherto unknown Minister is going to act on a competitor’s advice to give that competitor access to a facility I tell the Minister that it does not make sense. The companies know that it does not make sense and they are saying with one voice that they do not want this. With one voice they are saying: “This will stop investment.” I again appeal to the Minister to withdraw this clause. If he will not withdraw the part I ask that he at least withdraw the clause that nationalises the industry. 
I predict that if the Minister passes this we will in the event of trying to get companies to invest in this country be back repealing that part of the bill. The Minister is saying that there is now understanding within the industry and that they can do it and they will negotiate the process. I believe that that is what will happen and the Minister should back down now rather than proceed with this. 
I give the Minister another option. He could tell the House the name of one company that supports this part of the bill. I ask him to name one exploration company—one company that is likely to put up the money for the facilities—that agrees with this and he will not. There is one other option of course and that is that a company will drill find the gas and make a decision not to invest. So after finding the gas it will make a decision not to invest in the processing facility because that is going to be nationalised. So who will build the processing facility? The Crown. Maybe that is what the Minister wants. Maybe the Minister is saying that that is OK and maybe the commission will say: “We’ve got these gas finds and the large companies will not invest in the processing facility because of the nationalisation clause so the Crown should do it.”