Brownlee Gerry: General Debates 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debates 
[Volume:617;Page:13330] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 One knows that the Government is in severe trouble when its members come down to the debating chamber for the general debate make a blanket allegation that the National Party has no policy then spend their entire debate attacking National Party policy. That is when one knows they are in trouble. So desperate are they to make some impact on the public that the Minister of Education—known as the Labour Party bovver boy—is hardly able to recover from his jet lag after his extensive overseas junket before he is wheeled into the House to take point of order after point of order which of course are all totally pointless. 
Well over 12 months ago Bill English Nick Smith and I called a press conference outside the gates of the Islington substation in Christchurch. We did that for the purpose of highlighting the very serious issue of electricity supply constraints in the South Island particularly in the northern part of the South Island from Ashburton upward. When we were able to point out to the Government that this problem existed—and we were well supported by Transpower’s own information and by information from the Centre for Advanced Engineering and other independent observers of the electricity industry—all that Pete Hodgson could say was: “You’re wrong and you’re scaremongering.” Well here we are about 12 months later with a headline in the Christchurch  
Press 
 entitled “Peak-time cuts likely”. Well what the headline should state is “Pete’s blind cuts likely” because Mr Hodgson has failed in his duty to ensure there will be adequate electricity supplies to the top half of the South Island. [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Cosgrove the member for Waimakariri might sit over there saying that there is no problem but let me tell members that when it comes to the ballot box Mr Cosgrove will have many many problems because his area is one of those that will go black later this winter if we have some particularly cold snaps. 
I cannot understand why the Government has sat on its hands for so very long. Today I went through the  
Hansard  
of about the same time last year and was interested to reacquaint myself with some of the pathetic reasons the Government came up with for abandoning the proposal to build a hydro scheme at Dobson on the West Coast. Had that scheme gone ahead the huge investment in heavy cabling that is now needed to ensure security of supply in the upper South Island would not be necessary. But the Government said no it thought that a patch of gorse a pile of mud and a few old rocks here and there were far more important than keeping New Zealanders warm in their homes and keeping New Zealanders’ industries afloat so there were jobs for them. 
What we have seen today with the announcements from Transpower is the total folly of that sort of policy. Even if Transpower were able to get the cable together it would take the company years to do it. The reason is that this Government has not been able to get a change to the Resource Management Act that would make it possible for Transpower to work with any degree of speed at all. I think it is important that Mr Hodgson comes down to the House apologises for having his head in the sand so very far recognises that his electricity commission is a joke and a failure and tells the people of New Zealand what he is going to do to guarantee supply of electricity. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: One would think that the concept of a blackout is something that would have been considered outrageous 40 years ago let alone now in the year 2004. But perhaps it is the hallmark of a Labour Government that it is determined to drag New Zealand back to a time when people suffered a heck of a lot more than simply the degradation of not being able to warm themselves by an electric heater. It is a Government truly focused backwards. Never could that be more evident than by the fact that it is proclaiming this week’s Budget to be a great effort yet not one of its members has spoken to it in today’s debate. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I call the honourable member Mike Ward. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to say right upfront that I think I have had an incredibly rough spin from the Chair today. You sat through a tirade of interjection during that speech and never once uttered the word “Order”. Presumably that is because there is a certain iconic Minister on the other side who seems unable to be affected by anything the Chair says. Further I noticed at the end of my speech while you were calling it to an end that no such intervention was made on Ms Chadwick or previous Labour speakers and we are getting very tired of this inequitable treatment. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I thank the member very much for his remarks but the  
Hansard  
will show that I did actually call the members on my right to order during the course of the member’s speech. I appreciate the point the member has made.