Scott Lynda: Electricity and Gas Industries Bill — In Committee 
Scott Lynda: Electricity and Gas Industries Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15991] 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 Part 5 deals with the collection and disclosure of information in connection with petroleum reserves and petroleum production in order to promote informed investment decisions and improve security of supply in the gas and electricity markets as we have heard from the previous speakers. But there is quite a difference of opinion about whether the rest of the bill that we have been debating over the last few days will actually promote investment and investment decisions. Most of what we have heard indicates that it will not. The sharing of the infrastructure for processing will lead to decreased investment as people will have to share a processing plant at the direction of the Minister. 
It is markets and profits that drive a great deal of this exploration and we have heard that there are companies that do invest in searching for new reserves and do not give that information freely to others or competitors. They keep that information to themselves so that they can develop those areas when the price is right. Some of the development costs might be quite high because of the difficulty of exploration especially in offshore reserves where the extraction costs can be very high. 
 There is actually a need to have some information about what petroleum and gas reserves there are in order for the country to be able to plan for the future. One thing we do all know is that these are non-renewable sources and sooner or later we will have to invest in renewable forms of energy and develop them. I think most people in this country can remember unless they were born in the 1980s or later carless days and carpooling. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: I got married on a carless day. 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT 
: Our junior whip got married on a carless day. It would have been interesting getting everybody to the church on time. How did the member manage that? 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Good question! 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT 
: A good question! People had to carpool and to use buses on Mr Tisch’s wedding day because it was a careless day. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: It was 30 years ago. 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT 
: And it was 30 years ago. We do remember those times when all of a sudden there was a dramatic increase in the price of crude oil and New Zealand had great difficulty importing what we needed. We had carless days and carpooling and then “think big” to try to make New Zealand more independent. We now see that the price of crude oil has reached US$50 per barrel and may go higher and that will have a significant economic impact. So the disclosure of actual petroleum reserves and gas reserves around New Zealand is needed to enable the Government to plan. I have to say that the Government has been in power for 5 years and what has it done? What has it actually done to develop electricity and gas reserves? We know that the Maui gasfield is running down markedly but nothing has happened. The wheels of Government turn very very slowly. 
Brian Connell 
: It’s the Minister’s fault. 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT 
: It is the Minister’s fault—that is quite correct. It is the Minister’s fault because Ministers are the ones who are in charge of actually getting something done. 
We know that submitters stated that many of the parts of this bill are wrong; Contact Energy Federated Farmers Mighty River Power and TrustPower should be listened to. They are the people who are out there. All too often this Government listens to the officials who sit in Wellington never get out in the field and do not understand how the actual economics is working on a day-to-day basis. They give information based often on theory as opposed to the facts and the Ministers listen to that and do not come up with the correct answers for this country. We have seen that time and time again—that the people who come to select committees are not listened to. I am a great fan of the select committee process. I think it is an excellent way to get industry players and those who are materially affected by a bill to come along and actually say something about the particular matter look at the details of the bill and make recommendations. Those people should be listened to. In this case a lot of the submitters have stated that in this part the Government has got it wrong.