Turia Tariana: Urgent Debates — Power Outage—Upper North Island 
Turia Tariana: Urgent Debates — Power Outage—Upper North Island 
[Volume:631;Page:3483] 
TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena tatou te Whare. The Maori Party rises today to speak of the outrage of our constituents in homes and businesses throughout the greater Tamaki-makau-rau and Tainui region who were plunged into chaos yesterday through a major power blackout. A blackout caused by a failure at Transpower’s Otahuhu substation caused chaos in the central business district which affected an estimated 700000 people. 
We must make every effort to secure New Zealand’s power supply. The Maori Party has been speaking ever since its establishment about the need to develop an energy strategy for Aotearoa to ensure the best use of the available resources. We have raised our concerns about the fragility of a city’s power supply and the need to take responsibility for ensuring New Zealand’s future in a low-energy sustainable world. There is one thing that no one can deny: weather issues will always present risks. But we do not need to take the risk of just crossing our fingers and hoping we are prepared. We need to plan for the ever-present threat. 
This is not just a trivial matter ripe for personality politics as we have seen already in this debate. This was literally a case of life and death with Auckland City Hospital and Middlemore Hospital operating for emergencies only. The Auckland District Health Board has confirmed that during the power outage the emergency department had to turn people away. Some elective surgery was postponed due to the crisis. And what have we had here this afternoon? Accusations of alcohol use by members. Is that really how low the debate has become? 
The crisis yesterday was a case of business and investment strangulation. Let me remind this House of the grim facts of yesterday. The Employers and Manufacturers Association has stated that the outage was unacceptable and Transpower must fully investigate it. The Auckland chamber of commerce said that an alternative supply line is needed. Alex Swney from the business promotion group Heart of the City said that uncertainty over the power supply risks Auckland’s status as an international city. There was physical environmental economic and social desperation—and what has the Government been saying? It has been making allegations and accusations regarding who should speak in this debate and the legal bills of former MPs. 
Many in the House have had enough of the frivolous way in which these matters are being dealt with. Less than 5 years ago the nation and in particular the nations of Ngapuhi were devastated at the fires in Kaikohe and Herekino which it appears were started from candles. Both houses involved were without electricity and the occupants had turned to candles for alternative sources of light. In the aftermath of those tragedies Northland Ngapuhi leader Sonny Tau called for urgent talks with the Minister of Housing describing the houses of hundreds of Northland people as death traps. So we have already had that fatal experience in the north whereby families had no power and lost their lives. That experience provides a solemn warning to all members when considering what could have happened as a result of yesterday’s power outage. 
I absolutely agree with the honourable member who spoke earlier in the debate and urged us not to be flippant and not to play politics. It is critical that we prepare now for a pending energy crisis. We must work together as a nation in a collaborative approach to set up a time line for action and we must do that in this House. 
Last year the Maori Party proposed the establishment of a cross-party parliamentary commission. We believed that this commission would signal that Parliament was prepared to take a collaborative united approach towards the most critical issue facing our future sustainability. We need to be innovative to look at wind generation to look at alternative sources of supply and to work together for the good of our nation. Yesterday when I heard the chair of the Electricity Commission Roy Hemmingway suggest that he will talk with Government agencies and Transpower about how to proceed with an inquiry into the power crisis I was heartened. When we talked about the cross-party parliamentary commission we suggested that it should have the facility to co-opt independent advisers such as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment or to have representation from specialist groups such as the Sustainable Energy Forum. We need to pull together our best brains—our most creative energy—to guarantee that the power supply can be secured throughout all of Aotearoa. 
One of the brightest moments of an otherwise bleak crisis occurred when a young Auckland town planning student responding to the desperate calls for help from senior citizens who were trying to negotiate the traffic stepped up to the challenge walked out into the middle of the road and started to direct traffic. I admire his initiative and courage in trying to do what he could to assist the community—and in particular vulnerable members of our society—in a time of crisis. 
I call today for all members of the House to rise up to that same challenge—to stride out into the storm and to think about how we can work together to ensure that sustainable energy is generated and sustained for the future needs of all the peoples of Aotearoa.