Flavell Te Ururoa: Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:664;Page:11786] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe kia ora tatau katoa e te Whare kua hui mai i tenei po. Penei i etahi o nga mea korero i te po nei e tautoko ake i te ahuatanga o te hiahia o te Whare ki te tiaki pai i te taiao i a Ranginui e tu me Papatuanuku e takoto nei. 
[ 
Greetings to you and to us all the House who have gathered here tonight. Like those who have already spoken tonight I endorse the wish of the House to protect the environment the great sky before us and mother Earth lying here 
.] 
Keeping our natural resources healthy and investing in the good health of our environment as other members of the House have talked about tonight is a priority for our party as well. We promote the development of renewable energy resources including geothermal hydro wave wind and solar energy. We do this to protect and preserve limited resources such as oil gas and coal. We support the intention to develop further renewable electricity generation rather than relying on fossil fuels. Penei taku korero nei me kati ake tatau i a Papatuanuku. Kia kaua e waiho a ia hai mea whakatukinohia e te pirau a ka mutu te waiho ake ma te moni ano ra a Papatuanuku e whakahaere. Kao kaore matau e whakaae atu ki tera. 
[ 
My word is this: we must close ranks on mother Earth. Do not leave her there putrid a victim of contaminants and administered by the dollar. No we will not allow that 
.] 
Enthusiasm for alternative sources of energy is evident in many Maori communities. Solar heating for marae the construction of wind turbines a commitment to energy efficiency and other strategies are being developed and they are coming up alongside developments like healthier kai on marae. They are major developments that our marae are seeing the benefits of. I roto i a au in my electorate I know that the Maori research unit of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Te Kuwaha invested a lot of time working with mana whenua in Waihi near Lake Taupo the home of the Hon Georgina te Heuheu in an effort to improve access to power and energy efficiency. After initial assessments of energy needs and available energy sources they set out with a range of small-scale renewable energy systems including solar hot-water systems and photovoltaic cells. E ai ki taku mohio nei tera pea e tekau ma rima e rua tekau nga whare kai reira; ko te marae ko te whare puni ko te whare kai me te kohanga reo. Katoa o enei kai te putake me ki o tena o nga kainga o nga rau kainga noa o tera takiwa. 
[ 
According to what I know perhaps 15 to 20 houses are included namely the marae the main house of the marae the whare kai and the kohanga reo. All of these are at the root of it all of those homes the hundred or so homes of that district 
.] 
Te Kuwaha went in there boots and all looking for evidence of standard efficiency measures such as ceiling and underfloor insulation thermostat settings and insulation of hot-water cylinders lighting appliances heating curtains dampness and mould. As a result a large chiller and a hot-water cylinder for the communal showers were identified as inefficient power users and indeed several houses were in need of hot-water systems. With the support of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority they formed the retrofit team who were extensively trained. They provided income to the community and this was an incredibly useful learning environment for whanau to understand the basic principles of heating indoor air quality and home energy management. 
As well as that they installed a 720-watt photovoltaic system on the whare kai which would help to offset the chiller load that was early identified as a problem. That is just one community starting small and making a big difference to the challenge to reduce our dependency on oil. 
Na kai tera pito me ki ara ano a Tuaropaki no nga iwi o nga hapu o Mokai ko Ngati Parekaawa tera Ngati Te Kohera Ngati Wairangi Ngati Whaita Ngati Moekino Ngati Haa Ngati Tarakaiahi. 
[ 
Now at the other end there is Tuaropaki an amalgamation of the tribes and subtribes of Mokai namely Ngati Parekaawa Ngati Te Kohera Ngati Wairangi Ngati Whaita Ngati Moekino Ngati Haa and Ngati Tarakaiahi. 
] 
The trust’s wholly owned subsidiary Tuaropaki Power Co. Ltd was established in 1994 for the sole purpose of generating and marketing electricity from the Mokai geothermal resource. Mokai is now New Zealand’s largest privately developed geothermal project and is solely owned by tangata whenua. 
Na ki taku mohio te mea nui o tenei ra e penei ana e te kau ma wha pai heneti me ki mo te hiko ka puta mai i te New Zealand geothermal energy a kua whakatuaruahia kua piki haere tenei mai i te tau 2005. 
[ 
Now to my knowledge the most important thing today is that 14 percent shall we say of the power from New Zealand geothermal energy is renewable energy and has been climbing since 2005. 
] 
Another initiative in the mighty Waiariki electorate was announced just over a month ago with resource consents approved for the construction and operation of Nga Tamariki geothermal power station as the honourable Minister referred to earlier. The consent application for the proposed power station north-east of Taupo was lodged by the Rotokawa Joint Venture Ltd a commercial partnership between Mighty River Power and Tauhara North No. 2 Trust. Once commissioned in 2013 it is believed that the Nga Tamariki will create enough geothermal electricity to power half a million households. The initiatives of our iwi and our enthusiasm for renewable energy give us every reason to support this bill which aims to restrict the building of new oil coal and gas-fired plants and to instead promote greater use of renewable energy. We will support this bill at first reading.