McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): Thank you Mr Speaker. There is a trend developing today in this House when members of the Government speak. Firstly they say the Government is working hard. Secondly—Hon Members: Ha ha!Hon TODD McCLAY: No that wasn't meant to be funny but it is. Secondly on these really important pieces of legislation they are speaking for about one minute 23. Imagine if they were really really really important pieces of legislation the public may get three minutes or four minutes out of them. Here is the problem with this Government: talking is not working and working is not talking unfortunately.I met a builder in my electorate a little while ago who was complaining that he never built any houses because all he did was talk. Here's the problem with this piece of legislation. When the chair of the committee stands up and says his committee is hard-working and the Government is hard-working and the Government actually say We care about the price of electricity and the impact it has upon consumers so let's set up somebody to talk about it." it doesn't help people pay their electricity bills. It certainly doesn't bring it down. I guarantee you having listened to the speeches in the House from Government backbenchers that range from one minute 23 to one minute 47 if they drop their notes that actually the talking that will be done won't even make those consumers feel better.The electricity industry is a very very challenging thing to get right. A former member of Parliament for Rotorua who was charged with making reforms many years ago—actually in the end it was one of the reasons perhaps that it cost him his seat. Here is a salient lesson to the Minister because the chair of the committee just started talking about the very first hydro dam that was built in New Zealand. I didn't know whether the Government was taking credit for that or blaming National for it. But the point here is actually when it comes to a history lesson history does repeat. If a Government talks and gets regulation wrong—and I think this Government has a real challenge coming when it comes to electricity in New Zealand.What we didn't hear from the Minister when he read the speech or the chair of the committee was just what happened this year alone. We've canvassed it in the House. But if they actually care about the cost of electricity upon consumers both the household—who are crippled by cost of living rents through the roof food has gone up electricity is challenging for them—mums and dads who are working hard the working poor who are having to choose between paying the bills or feeding the kids. If they actually cared about that they would have talked about the blackouts that happened this year. There were a lot of excuses from the Government. I mean the most appalling thing I must say when it comes to the explanation the Minister of Energy and Resources gave in this House was that she found out via the media. Oh my gosh.So here's the challenge that we have: blackouts this year more coal imported than any year ever before a gas ban that you know we can argue about but is having an impact upon investment and electricity the number of trucks rolling down the highway from Auckland in lockdown to the Huntly power station to generate electricity from coal. And what the Government wants to do the solution is a committee to talk about these things to give consumers a voice. Well for constituent MPs in our electorates they already know consumers have a voice and their voice is "We need help real help. We just don't need talk. We don't need a Government that's saying we're working hard that we understand that we care." Caring doesn't turn the heater on doesn't help a consumer pay the bill and New Zealanders are struggling.This will come before the committee. It'll be like other bills we've had in the energy sector that have come before the committee: the Government won't actually listen to submitters. Now you don't have to do everything a submitter wants because of course there will be many many different views that will come before the committee. But one of the great things about a sector like this is there are real-time experts out there who have experience. Sadly I remember when I was a Minister officials don't know everything. It's easy for a Minister who's under pressure who has far too much to do to just assume the officials know what's best and what's right. But you've also got to get out of the offices in Wellington that don't have the windows and listen to people on the street about what's affecting them and then go to the sector and listen to the reasonable experts the ones that are experienced that this is their life work about how to make it right how to get it right. Very very few of them would say "The very best thing you could do is to set up another agency to talk with little power if any at all." It's not going to make the change or the difference that they hope. That's what this Government will be judged on not the announcements not the "We're working hard. We're a great Government. We're hard-working." It's whether or not they're making a difference to people's lives. Sadly this legislation won't. The Government has missed an opportunity to actually do something about the cost of energy and electricity in New Zealand.I would imagine that we'll see the Minister of energy again attacking the generation companies because she likes to do that. If ever the Government is under pressure the media notices there are blackouts they go on attack mode and they spin. They attack those who are generating electricity or they attack the companies who own the lines and move the electricity around the country. Or what they often do is they talk about the retailers; they are the ones who are actually responsible. Well the Government has the regulatory tools they have the ability with their large majority to do what's right for New Zealand. Instead they do just what they want to do whatever they want and sadly this is a missed opportunity here.They could actually say "We are going to find ways to have more generation in the short term as we move towards the goal that we have of sustainable electricity production." But we have to remember that when they came to Government four years ago we had one of the most sustainable energy sectors in the world and actually it's gone backwards. Unfortunately we are not as sustainable our electricity production in New Zealand is not as renewable today as it was when they came to Government four years ago because of all of that coal that's coming from Indonesia. That's a very sad thing because we could have stood on our record and been proud of what we were doing around the world. This legislation does nothing about that. They talk about all the schemes that they want pumped hydro all the other things that they're talking about which are not in the short term and the medium term; they're a long way away. It's almost like Think Big all those years ago. Think Big except the Government is not "thinking big". They're thinking about the next press release. They are thinking about the next slogan. They're thinking about how to divert attention from the things they are not doing and not doing well hoping the public doesn't notice. Here is the problem for the Government: every single month the electricity bill turns up and eventually those press releases they realise don't help the bills to be paid. Bits of legislation like this will come to the committee and we will give a fair hearing. They won't make one bit of difference to the blackout that's happened this year to the oil and gas ban. So we can't have gas as a transitional energy source to give certainty to the coal that's been imported into New Zealand from Indonesia and to the lack of new generation.The National Party is very proud of the work that we did in Government to balance this out to have a time line to start moving towards a sustainable energy. But we also need energy security and energy independence and that's something the Government has thrown out the window purely to make announcements. If this legislation was going to make it easier for consumers to give businesses certainty to make sure that at the very least costs didn't go up let alone come down we would happily support it we'd work with the Government but it doesn't do this. What it does is it sets up another body to talk. When members opposite say that they are hard-working working is not talking and talking is not working. The only way that that builder I gave the example of earlier actually can build houses is stop talking pick up the tools and actually do the real work. That's what the Government needs to do when it comes to energy production in New Zealand.The very best way to look after the consumer if the Government doesn't know what to do about energy is find other ways to reduce costs on them: make sure the rents are not going up as much as they have; make sure the fuel costs are not going up; stop piling tax upon tax upon tax on the poor Kiwi household; stop bringing out new rules and regulations on businesses large and small when they struggle so they have to pass the cost on. Because Kiwis are struggling. There is such a thing now as the hard-working poor people that go to work every day mums and dads 40 hours to 80 hours a week between them who cannot pay their bills who have to choose between paying the bills that the Government are ramping up and feeding their kids. They're the ones that deserve the break. They're the ones that deserve more than a talk shop a committee that's going to talk to make them feel better. The way to make them feel better is bring the electricity costs down."