Parker David: Electricity (Renewable Preference) Repeal Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Parker David: Electricity (Renewable Preference) Repeal Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:949] 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to take a call in the debate on clauses 1 2 and 3. I focus for a start on the date that this legislation comes into force which is the day after the date on which the bill receives the Royal assent. We can take it from that that the Government intends having passed this legislation in urgency to take it as soon as it can to the Governor-General to get its Royal assent and thereafter it intends this legislation to take effect. 
I ask the Minister what the rush is and why the Government thinks there is a need to repeal the existing legislation—which is the effect of this bill—so soon when it does not yet have the price of carbon in the economy that it says it will rely upon as the alternative in order to discourage thermal-based electricity and instead prefer renewable sources of electricity. We have heard from the National Government that it has adopted the Labour Government target of 90 percent renewable generation by 2025. But in order for there to be a meaningful prospect of that target being achieved we have to build renewable generation in the future rather than more thermal generation and that of course was what the existing legislation did. It placed restrictions on additional thermal generation thereby encouraging New Zealand to go for renewable generation. 
The great thing about renewable generators as we all know is that once we have built them the fuel is free. We do not have to buy more gas and more coal for ever. But when Government members spoke during earlier stages in this debate they said that they would achieve that effect through having a price on carbon. But of course we do not yet have a price on carbon in the electricity sector; we have a price of carbon in the forestry sector only and indeed that has already been undermined by the National Government saying that it will suspend the emissions trading scheme. 
We have a select committee being set up by a motion and taken through this Parliament by the Leader of the House who is also the Minister of Energy and Resources. This new select committee has been created to look at amongst other things whether we should have something other than an emissions trading scheme or whether we should perhaps have a carbon tax. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Rodney Hide made them do it. 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Rodney Hide made them do it; that is right. Amongst other things those members were weak and they thought that they should open up the ambit and extend the inquiry into matters relating to whether climate change is real. In the meantime we do not have a price on carbon. We have uncertainty as to when we will have a price on carbon whether we will have a price on carbon and whether the price of carbon will be anything near the real market price of carbon or will be at a low figure such as the figure proposed by the Business Roundtable which would have little environmental effect and would not act to discourage more fossil-fuelled thermal electricity in any meaningful way. 
I ask the Minister to take a call and explain why it is necessary to have such an early date for this legislation to come into effect and to say whether he has considered having an assent date that is after the date when the select committee reports back on whether we should have an emissions trading scheme or after the date on which we have certainty as to whether we will have a market price on carbon. As the Minister has said in his remarks at an earlier stage he and his Government are relying on that price of carbon to discourage more fossil fuel - based generation and to instead have renewable generation. I just cannot understand unless I have some explanation from the Minister how it can be that we can rely on a price of carbon that does not yet exist. 
This also links back to the date on which the Electricity Commission loses its investigatory powers. Allied to those investigatory powers is the public right of participation in these decisions because under the current law the commission has to publish notice of its intention to do something and to give a reasonable opportunity to let people express their views and then it must have regard to those views. It seems inappropriate that those rights are being taken away.