Smith Nick: Imprest Supply Debate — Third Reading 
Smith Nick: Imprest Supply Debate — Third Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:496] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 My colleague Bill English has rightly questioned the people who make up this rotten tired Government. This is the Government— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Is this the man who beat up John Carter? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I used to call Mr Mallard the No. 1 bully in the Labour Government. I now have to call him the No. 2 bully. He has definitely been out-bullied by David Benson-Pope. It is not just the individuals who make up this Government and the parties that make up this Government but it is also the policies that make up this Government that are seriously lacking in credibility. 
I have before me here the Speech from the Throne which refers to the wonderful shape the New Zealand economy is in after 6 years of this Labour Government. It discusses a thriving knowledge-based economy and society underpinned would one believe by values of fairness. I ask Mr Mallard what sort of fairness we saw this afternoon from the Attorney-General when he attacked one of the victims of the David Benson-Pope tennis ball exercise. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I would like to point out to the member that the Deputy Prime Minister is not the Attorney-General. He should catch up with the facts. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: That is not a point of order. It is just a desperate tactic by a desperate Minister to try to interrupt this speech because he is trying to defend the indefensible. [ 
Interruption 
] Can the Minister who is shouting and interjecting explain this for me: why did the Speech from the Throne refer to a booming wonderful economy in exactly the same week in which a business survey showed the lowest level of business confidence in 17 years? Is it I ask Mr Mallard that the business sector does not understand? Is it that somehow the survey has got it all wrong? Or is it simply that the Minister cannot explain it? The Speech from the Throne has no credibility. 
And then we have the issue of— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Everyone knows you’re hopeless! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Mr Mallard the man who has been sacked as Minister of Education—every portfolio he touches ends up in trouble—tries to interrupt the debate. I would like the Minister—the former Minister of Energy—to explain this. Meridian Energy’s Chief Executive Keith Turner has stated that: “The New Zealand electricity grid is so overworked that lines cannot be taken out of action for servicing. That is unheard of in the Western developed world.” Who was the Minister who was in charge of our energy sector? It was Mr Mallard. So Mr Mallard according to Dr Keith Turner has been in charge of a system that is involved in things that are unheard of in the Western World. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The Associate Minister of Energy Harry Duynhoven interjects and says we should not believe Dr Keith Turner. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: That’s not what I said at all. Once again you’ve misled the House. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well what did the member say? He should tell us what he said. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: What did National do in the 9 years it was in Government about infrastructure? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: No he did not say that at all. Dr Keith Turner is being paid $1.3 million a year by this Government. He happens to have a PhD in transmission yet he says to Mr Harry Duynhoven and Mr Mallard the responsible Ministers that our grid is so overworked that some lines— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He did not say that at all. Why don’t you tell the truth? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Let me quote: “The New Zealand electricity grid is so overworked that lines cannot be taken out of action for servicing. That is unheard of in the Western developed world.” That is a disgrace. That Minister there is responsible for that mess and it is highlighted in one briefing after another. 
I have a briefing here from Treasury which states that our electricity networks are seriously under-invested in. Well who has been responsible for the investment? Who has made the decisions for the last 6 years that have led Treasury to state that the Government is guilty of serious under-investment? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: There were 9 years of under-investment. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Mr Harry Duynhoven interjects and wants to roll the clock back. I say to Mr Duynhoven that power consumption has gone up by 20 percent since he has been in Government and the network has not changed since then. So a basic bit of engineering mathematics would suggest that Mr Duynhoven had about a 20 percent freeload or surplus when National left office that has been undermined during his time in this Government—he has failed. 
But even further the Government has also under-invested in the area of transport—another area where Harry Duynhoven has failed. The briefings from Treasury and the Ministry of Economic Development again highlight roading as an area where this Government has failed. The briefings state that in that area current Government policy is not working. Even more interesting is what Treasury has to say about roading policies under this Government. It states that we need a clean transparent system for funding. Well that is a code for saying it is not clean and transparent at the moment. Treasury is stating that the system has become one of pork-barrel politics and that was even before the dirty deals that this Government has done with regard to United Future and New Zealand First over roading in Ohariu-Belmont and in Tauranga. One even has the Treasury stating that there is a confused mess of policies in respect of roading. 
Then one comes to the Treasury briefing on the Resource Management Act. If there is any issue that members on the Opposition side of the House have given so many speeches on as almost to bore themselves with it is the need to reform the Resource Management Act. And what does Treasury state? It states that National is absolutely right. It states that the Resource Management Act represents a significant impediment to dealing with the roading and electricity issues that this nation faces. It goes even further and I quote: “There is a need to review the balance between development and protection in Part 2 of the Resource Management Act.” And what does Labour say? Labour says that it will not change it. It refuses to make any amendments to the Resource Management Act and particularly to Part 2 in direct contradiction to the recommendations of Treasury. That is a recipe for guaranteeing ongoing difficulties with the basic items of infrastructure such as roading and electricity that New Zealanders are waiting for. 
But even in terms of the little issues that annoy New Zealanders—it is one of the reasons that there are 24 new National colleagues sitting in this Parliament—I say New Zealanders have had a gutsful of the petty silly regulation that comes from this Government. No better is that illustrated than in the ruling that the “bra fence” in Otago requires a resource consent under the Resource Management Act. Does Harry Duynhoven think that is sensible law? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: No. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Oh well good! I now have an admission from a Minister in the Government that he does not think it is sensible law under this Government’s policies that a resource consent is needed for a “bra fence”. So I ask Mr Duynhoven what he is going to do about it. Well the response is deafening. 
Hon Bill English 
: Is he going to wear that one? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: My colleague asks whether Mr Duynhoven is going to wear that one. I simply ask Mr Duynhoven whether he is committed to the reform of the Resource Management Act. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: We have already. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Oh it is interesting is it not? We have all sorts of weasel words from Harry Duynhoven and the simple view is—[ 
Interruption 
] Well the Minister in charge of the Resource Management Act says that it will not be reformed yet that member says it has been. 
Hon Bill English 
: Harry who? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Harry who indeed! We have so many different views—confusion within the Government. We have no clear view even about a policy as fundamental as the Resource Management Act and the need for reform in that area. 
It is little wonder that that tired decrepit Government looks with each day of the House more and more as though it is on death row. Whether it is the machinations of Trevor Mallard or the whimpering from Harry Duynhoven with each day that goes by the Government looks more and more decrepit. Whether it is individuals like David Benson-Pope— 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: You really are a low form of parliamentary life. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Oh—can Mr Harry Duynhoven explain why we would have— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: The member’s time has expired.