Brown Peter: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
Brown Peter: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
[Volume:639;Page:9749] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I will commence by offering on behalf of my colleagues our sincere condolences to the Muliaga family members on the loss of their wife and mother. This should not have happened. Nobody—nobody—should die in this country because he or she has not paid the power bill. Nobody should have an oxygen machine switched off because he or she owes a power company $168. That is an absolute disgrace and it is a further disgrace that the company that switched the power off is a Government-administered company. There are protocols in place and now there has been talk of making them compulsory. 
The power companies are run by highly paid executives—highly paid executives—and all the contractor out there had to do was to press a button on his cellphone and ask whether he could leave the power on because there was a lady there with an oxygen mask who needed to use that equipment. That was all he had to do but what did he do? Nothing! He simply said that he was just doing his job. That is appalling. It is no wonder this incident made international news and no wonder it was reported on the BBC. This is a country that prides itself on its compassion and its caring but we allowed an event like that to happen. 
When I heard about this incident first off I am on record for producing a media release that said somebody should be held accountable for it to the degree of being charged with either murder or manslaughter. I have to say that personally I am still of that opinion. It is the sort of incident to my mind where somebody should be held accountable. I am not talking about politicians; I am not talking about the Prime Minister or anybody else in this House. But there should be somebody in that company who says yea or nay in relation to whether the power stays on and that person should be held accountable. 
I note that the family members themselves have said that they do not want to persevere with the police inquiry and that they have compassion for the contractor. That speaks volumes in my book because no compassion was shown to that family—none at all. I cannot think of anything worse that somebody could have done than simply to say he was sorry but he was just doing his job. I do not know whether the contractor even said he was sorry. 
Jill Pettis 
: I think he did. 
PETER BROWN 
: Did he? Well let us give him the benefit of the doubt. In fairness to the man I understand that he is feeling pretty awful right now— 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: So he should! 
PETER BROWN 
: —and I agree with the Minister; so he should. It is beyond belief that a person can walk into a family’s house see a person with an oxygen mask on and say he is sorry but he is only doing his job and he is turning the power off. 
We have to come to terms with what we are doing in this country in relation to power. We have heard from the Greens and from National about the escalation in power prices over the last few years. I believe that the Greens’ figure of 18 percent is on the low side. It may be an average but I believe that generally it is on the low side. The fundamental reason for the increased cost is that we are not producing power plants at the required rate. As a nation we are relying more and more on electricity—more and more. We should in my view have a gas-fired power station at Otahuhu. I know that Government members will shrug their shoulders at that and say no we should be given a few windmills somewhere else. But Contact Energy would build a gas-fired power station tomorrow if the Government was willing to give it a bit of support and that would not only give us more power fairly promptly but also ease the problem regarding the transmission lines through the Waikato. 
The Bradford reforms were set up in 1997-98 to create a bit of competition in the industry but at that time there was a surplus of power—there was more power than New Zealanders needed. We rapidly overtook that surplus and in my view we are now barely keeping pace with the power that is required. We cannot build coal-fired power stations because of climate change problems. We cannot build gas-fired power stations because of climate change problems. This country produces 0.2 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the world—0.2 percent—and we cannot build coal-fired power stations! Since the Kyoto Protocol has come into being between them India and China have produced 800 coal-fired power stations. In this country people are kicking up about our one and only coal-fired power station at Huntly. People complain about the new E3P power station that is coming on line which will burn gas. I ask you! 
We must get our priorities correct when it comes to power in this country. Shortly we will have people freezing in the southern part of this country—going to bed with blankets wrapped around them because they cannot afford their electricity bills. The 121 of us here in this House live in relative comfort compared with some New Zealanders. Some New Zealanders need power on an essential ongoing basis not only for medical reasons but for warmth and heat in their homes. For the sake of $168 we cut off a family’s power. The family had been paying back on an irregular basis some of the money it owed. I think it owed $15 more this month than it did last month and we cut the power off. Why? Why are we putting the need for money and even the needs of the environment ahead of people’s welfare? Why have we got into that way of thinking in this country? We need to address this issue from a people’s perspective and from a compassionate perspective. People are relatively low-paid in this country and people need power. We should be able to produce power and we should be able to produce it more cheaply than we do. The effect on global warming of another gas-fired power station or even of another coal-fired power station would be negligible. 
I think the Australians produce the equivalent of 1.5 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions but 75 percent of Australian power is generated from coal. The Australians are taking a long-term practical-assessment view of climate change and climate change problems. We should join with them in doing that. We should work in tandem with the Australians and address those problems in a proper professional and workable manner. 
If we had power at a reasonable price the lady in this family would still be here. The Greens have the idea of blocks—I do not know; is it selling in low blocks at a cheap rate? I do not recall the Greens ever making that information available to any other political party in this House. This very afternoon I asked Jeanette Fitzsimons for some information. She stated that that system operates in other countries—in other places. On behalf of New Zealand First I can say that my colleagues would be very interested to know where and to what degree that system is working. It seems like an idea that should be examined. But the Greens have not come across and offered any sort of advice to us on that system. We would have a close look at it. I cannot say here and now whether we would support the idea but from what I heard today it certainly sounds like an idea that is worth examining. 
We must make power available in the quantities that New Zealanders need and require and at a reasonable price. I say—and I hope I am in step with my colleagues in saying this—there is nothing more important than that. Climate change problems can be addressed in the fullness of time and as Tony Blair said only last week without the Yanks—without the Americans—without the Indians and without the Chinese on board addressing climate change problems is a waste of time. We must start to put our people particularly low-paid people ahead and at the top of our priorities. Thank you.