Bradford Sue: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
Bradford Sue: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
[Volume:639;Page:9741] 
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
: 
 I seek leave to split this call in half with my colleague Jeanette Fitzsimons. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That is all right. Just arrange that amongst the Green Party members. 
SUE BRADFORD 
: I move  
That the House take note of a matter of urgent public importance 
. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about this sadly defining moment in our country’s history. The disconnection of the Muliaga family’s electricity by State-owned enterprise Mercury Energy and the death of FololeMuliaga a few hours after the electricity was cut off to her home and her oxygen machine are a tragedy that has highlighted tensions of ideology and a gap of empathy in this country. But before I speak any more I would like to formally offer my condolences and those of my Green Party colleagues to the family of FololeMuliaga. My heart goes out to them as I imagine their hardship and sorrow and what they have had to deal with over the last 2 weeks. 
It was 2 weeks ago today at around this time that Mrs Muliaga died. She died because as a society we have come to value efficiency and profit before people. The strict chain of events surrounding Mrs Muliaga’s death started when she became sick and had to give up her job as an early childhood teacher. That reduced the family income to $400 a week for the four of them. Mr Muliaga was working as much as possible in his minimum-wage job earning while his wife was sick. Although their income was drastically reduced at the same time the price of power has gone up by 40 percent in real terms since 2000 and went up by 7 percent just last year. As most families who are surviving on a benefit or a minimum wage know it is often not possible to have a roof over one’s head warmth clothing a full stomach running water and bills paid in full and on time. People are forced constantly to make tough choices regardless of whether someone is sick or there are children in the family. 
One of the compromises the Muliaga family was forced to make was paying off the power bill in instalments. That apparently was not acceptable to Mercury Energy or to the State-owned enterprise Mighty River Power—a State-owned enterprise that made record profits last year. Despite another payment being due in 2 days and two payments having recently been made by the family the company decided to disconnect the electricity. At one stage the company was even reported as saying it believed that through cutting off the power it was helping the Muliaga family by making sure it did not get further into debt. The contractor involved was apparently disconnecting power to several houses that day. Who knows the stories of those other families? How many children across the country were left shivering in their beds that night as a result of those disconnections and all the others that took place? How many pregnant women went to bed feeling cold and without having had hot food? How many people with mental or physical illnesses or disabilities were left in darkness? 
After the tragedy of 2 weeks ago it quickly became apparent that Mercury Energy itself was turning off the power of hundreds of households a week. I think that all of us may have been shocked by the extent to which not only Mercury Energy but other power companies have been turning off the power across New Zealand every day and in tens of thousands of households a year. This was a tragedy waiting to happen. It could have happened anywhere in New Zealand and it could happen again any day now. 
I thank the Government and the Prime Minister for their quick response to the matter. I appreciate that they have identified the need to develop some guidelines for power companies. However the guidelines in so far as they have been talked about so far do not go far enough. They are not mandatory. They will be introduced after 1 month’s consultation and then monitored by the Electricity Commission for 3 months. The commission will then report back to the Government next year and advise as to whether the guidelines are working or whether there needs to be more regulation. In this case it appears that the threat of regulation is considered to be more important than the possible consequence of not doing something more regulatory and that leads to the conclusion that there could again be further tragic circumstances. Effectively the companies are being slapped on the wrist and told not to do it again when we already have codes of responsibility and codes of practice for them that should have stopped them from doing it but did not. 
 What is almost worse though in this whole debate is to realise that racist blame-the-victim views seem to have gained such a foothold in our communities particularly in places like talkback radio. To hear people turning all the blame for this tragedy on to FololeMuliaga and her family reminds me of the worst aspects of the 1980s and 1990s when over and over again the victims of deliberate Government policies and corporate greed were held to blame for their circumstances rather than the system that had caused their unemployment or poverty their ill health or their death. Many of us remember those times and it has been really sad to hear that kind of blaming raise its head again over the last 2 weeks. 
This recent tragedy has I believe marked a turning point for us as a country. We have been internationally shamed. I think a number of us would have been shocked by the way this story went worldwide instantly and by the international reaction to the fact that a country such as ours which is seen as a kind caring and compassionate country with a welfare state would have allowed this incident to happen. If we are to reclaim our image and our reality as a country that actually adheres to and believes in fundamental principles of humanity equity and compassion we should immediately take a number of steps. 
The first step is to require a law providing that not only electricity companies but also gas and water companies put alongside any household having problems with its bills a community or social service agency to help it work through the payment problems and to advise that family or household of any Government assistance that is available. Community-based groups helping with that work should of course also be funded by the utility company for their work. I realise this is in part what the Government is saying; the issue is simply that the Greens believe it should be mandatory. Alongside that we are also saying over and over again that it is not just power that is at stake here but also gas and water. Those are all necessities of life. 
Secondly companies must be required to notify the Ministry of Social Development before anyone’s power is cut off and the ministry should be expected as a matter of course to do everything it can to help the family concerned whether it is already in the benefit system or whether it is on a low income—whatever its situation is. The rules inside the Ministry of Social Development must be changed in order to make it clear that the provision of power gas and water to households is a health and safety issue and an essential of life. The Government should also introduce a new ministerial directive within Work and Income on advances for residential utility payments. Such a directive separate from other directives could see the ministry working in with the power and water companies to ensure no one’s supply is cut off and that no one is denied reconnection. The Ministry of Social Development could use combinations of recoverable and non-recoverable payments to make sure than no one’s situation gets worse and becomes out of hand and to make sure that the supply is maintained. 
Thirdly it should simply be illegal to disconnect water gas or electricity except in cases where it is clear that people who can afford to pay are arbitrarily refusing to do so. 
My colleague Jeanette Fitzsimons will now discuss a further key measure that should be taken in relation to the pricing of power.