Brownlee GerryHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National): Those are two extraordinary speeches we've just heard from the other side of the House. The first from Arena Williams made that impassioned plea that this is part of our transition to a clean green economy but it also managed to say that this is a global challenge and it seemed to forget that New Zealand was once about 50 percent self-sufficient in net terms in hydrocarbon product—that's now fallen by the wayside—and we had a refinery here which meant that we could bring in crude oil clean that crude oil up quite considerably into high-quality motor spirit and other product and get a whole lot of benefit from the by-product of that exercise. But now the Government having seen the closure of Marsden Point—because the company recognised that the cost of buying offset carbon in New Zealand just didn't make it economic to stay here and it decided to shut the thing down putting this country into the position where we are now 100 percent dependent on other nations for our motor fuel. Now who pays the carbon price on that? This is the sort of fallacy that you get from the Green Party and the Labour Party about this transition with New Zealand becoming a wonderfully clean low-carbon - emitting country etc. but we're simply transferring some of our obligation on to other nations. Then they're standing up and piously saying Oh it's a global challenge and we're all in it together."—well this is a Government that's pulling us right out of that when it comes to our motor spirit requirements. The other thing that we've heard is the member Dr David Clark over the other side there quoting one of his colleagues saying that this was a stitch in time measure—a stitch in time measure. Well 12 months ago we went into a position where we were 100 percent dependent on imported fuel and for 12 months there's been nothing until in Budget legislation—Budget legislation—under urgency we're apparently taking a stitch in time. This is complete and utter rubbish and we are in this situation because the Labour-led Government and the Labour Government that followed it have taken their eye off the ball and failed to recognise that if we are going to have a transition in New Zealand from carbon-emitting fuels and other carbon-emitting processes it takes time. It takes time and what we've got today effectively in this bill is an admission from the Labour Government that they've got it wrong and that they should have sat down with the owners of Marsden Point and should have negotiated a way through that would not leave this country so dreadfully exposed as we are at the moment. It's here because the certain circumstances that are surrounding the Ukraine war and the potential for escalation there could put us in a difficult position. I do want to say though that it's noticeable that over the last 12 months of absolutely horrific casualty death destruction and dispossession inside Ukraine international oil prices have fallen which is quite an interesting sort of thing. It means someone is buying somewhere from countries that perhaps they shouldn't be buying from and it would raise the question about where does all of our refined oil come from and what is the base source of that fuel before it gets here—what is the base source of the crude that gets refined and ultimately exported to New Zealand? My point is that New Zealand is at the bottom end of a supply chain. I don't know what the supply chain looks like now but it for decades was around about seven to 12 weeks. In other words if an oil company ordered fuel they could expect delivery of that inside that time line. So we're supporting this bill today not because we are supportive of the Government's ridiculous position that it's a stitch in time but simply because it is desperately needed to ensure that we do have that continuity of supply available to us and that we do have motor spirit which is the lifeblood still of the New Zealand economy in good supply in all parts of the country. I think it's fascinating that we've got a Budget predicting 3.5 percent economic growth in the coming year but at the same time just quietly the Government is going into a little bit of panic about whether or not we might be in a position where the motor fuel is not available to fuel that economic growth. So many things that we see from the current Government are contradictions of former policy and I think it is time that we actually had an energy policy that was more clearly stated to New Zealanders about where we're going and what we expect to achieve over a period of time. The sort of vague references out there to transition to new fuels and to all sorts of opportunities that sound great on paper but are not backed up by any particularly practical activities is borne out by the fact that we are here today chasing this piece of legislation through so urgently. I'm aware of a large trucking company in the south of New Zealand the Richardson Group who have decided that they are going to convert their trucks to hydrogen and they're doing that at a huge expense of around about $150000 per unit. I take my hat off to them because they are saying in a practical sense "We can see the value of doing this. It's worth it for us in the long run." But that hydrogen and those conversions admirable as they are—and I really do mean that—will still mean that they need motor fuel because there are so many parts of the country where they won't be able to fill up with the hydrogen. I say this as an example of the transition that we're going through. Yes there will be uptake of those new fuels and that's good. There seems to be not a lot of encouragement for people to do that. I can't imagine that there's any particular and actual incentive for that company to make that decision—Hon Dr Megan Woods: Did you read the Budget? Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: I beg your pardon? Hon Dr Megan Woods: Did you read the Budget? Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Now here's the Minister who could not understand her own bill in the House last night—a piece of Budget legislation—calling across the House "Did you read the Budget?" Well I read the Budget and there's $75 million worth of transition money in that Budget but I also heard from Andrew Little that that's not corporate welfare. So there is just another example—Hon Dr Megan Woods: No did you read the hydrogen initiative? Read the hydrogen initiative. Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: —of the massive confusion inside the Labour Government at the present time and it won't matter just how much the Minister wants to squabble on over there. It is a fact that very few Ministers in that Government understand what their Budget is really doing. If anyone wants to know here's the deal: they've found $4 billion in savings they overspent by $7 billion—that's the deficit. It's a four-year deal we're $11 billion in the hole and they're telling us that we're all in great shape. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Unbelievable—unbelievable!ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Back to the bill—back to the bill. Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: So while I respect the Minister as a member of Parliament and a fellow Christchurch MP I have to say that her calling across the House of "Did you read the Budget?" is an utter joke because quite clearly most of the Cabinet didn't read the Budget and there's been absolutely no justification why a bill like this is so particularly urgent other than the fact that quite clearly there's a rough time on the way somewhere and the Government doesn't want to be caught napping as badly as it has been for so long. I've got to say to Minister O'Connor that if this is a stitch in time I'd hate to see what's unravelling in his portfolio—I'd hate to see what's unravelling in his portfolio. Unbelievable because here it is: 12 months after the problem potentially emerged we're now getting some legislation. So I say again we are supporting it. We're supporting it—and I make this statement again—not because we think the Government is worthy of that support but because the people of New Zealand are and because it recognises that finally the Government have woken up and realised that all of their wild talk about transition and about a new economy the green economy and everything else does require practical steps to ensure that people can step their way towards that and this bill is part of that. So as I come to the concluding seconds of my time can I simply say that it is utterly ridiculous that a bill like this took 12 months to get to the House and it is now being done with some urgency."