Court Simon; Woods MeganSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Minister for that explanation about the penalties regime. When we look a bit further down the track what we see is a penalties regime which gives this Government regulator regulating agency authority—what do we call it? A regulating body. It actually says that they can ignore any civil penalties or civil agreements already reached and impose their own penalties. I guess that shows you what the tendency is of this Government to ignore the desire the will to collaborate to solve problems for the benefit of communities for the businesses that operate in those communities for the businesses that support families and workers on high-paid jobs in some of New Zealand's most interesting and challenging problem-solving sectors like the oil and gas sector. It appears that this Government prefers to take it upon itself to regulate and to come up with their own penalties regime rather than allowing through contracts through mediation potentially even through litigation or arbitration between parties who may be affected by a shortage of gas by announcements which they weren't expecting—although given the information that the gas industry company already provides it's hard to imagine there would be a scenario where any kind of action would be necessary because all the information that will ever be needed is already out there in plain sight. That's why the regulations that are proposed are completely unnecessary. The Minister should answer this question: what additional information that is not currently disclosed would the Minister want to know?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): I did address that in answers to the previous part of the bill. It's probably no surprise that that was addressed in answers to a previous part of the bill because Schedule 1AA that the member is referring to in the call that he just took is a consequence of clause 18 which is in fact in Part 1of the legislation.SIMON COURT (ACT): So we are debating Part 2 and we are talking about the regulations which establish rulings panel and my question to the Minister is what type of or what value or form of punishment would elicit the kind of information that is not currently available because that's what Part 2 in the Amendments to regulation seeks to do is to set up a rulings panel to order penalties and to define what offences and breaches are.Let's be clear when we've heard the Minister tell us time and again that the Gas Industry Company itself asked for the privilege of being regulated well I've read a few bedtime stories to my kids in the past and sometimes I get to a part of the book where the page is missing and so I skip that bit and I fill in the blanks. But children are smart and they always know when a parent or a Government Minister is just making it up and filling in the blanks.CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! You can't make that kind of accusation. I'm going to require you to withdraw and apologise.SIMON COURT: I withdraw and apologise Mr Chair. So look to complete that analogy this is no bedtime story. This is no fairy tale. It's more like a nightmare for those organisations and those businesses required to comply. If we come back to the reason why they need to comply with this need for a regulation when the Gas Industry Company supposedly offered this opportunity for regulation to the Minister Minister please regulate us. We cannot manage ourselves."—look I've been in the principal's office. I've been offered a month of detention or six of the best and it's not a pleasant choice to have to make. So I would like to ask the Minister—Hon Member: What did you choose?SIMON COURT: I always chose six of the best because it seemed that it was sometimes quicker to get the punishment over. It's quicker to get the punishment over rather than to suffer writing lines and suffering at the hands of the administration. But that's a very good question.So look the question for the Minister: what level of penalties or other form of punishment would be required to force the industry to disclose information that is not currently being disclosed?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): I'd remind the member that what Part 1 of the bill does in terms of the penalties that we're discussing in Part 2 of course gives the Gas Industry Company which is the industry-owned company that imposes the regulations it empowers them to make the recommendations to the Minister around the regulation. So all of that will be worked through with the industry. Just as the member is saying the industry need to be involved in these decisions and those final policy decisions that is exactly the regime that the committee has just passed after under Part 1 of the bill."