Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:608;Page:5246] 
4.  
GERRY BROWNLEE (NZ National—Ilam) 
 to the  
Minister of Energy 
: Does he stand by his statement of October 2002 that “there is no cause for high anxiety” in relation to New Zealand running out of power in the near future; if so why? 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Energy) 
: 
 The sentence that the member quotes in part began with the words: “While the risk of problems in exceptionally dry years is always with us …”. I therefore stand by it. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: From the same article: is he still as happy to explain why “there is no possibility of electricity shortages in New Zealand” as he was in November last year; and does he think that his explanation will give elderly freezing in their homes businesses that shut down and families without hot water for up to 18 hours a day comfort that he knows what he is doing? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The member has already indicated his ability to partially quote bits out of context. If he continues to do so I will continue to give him the context. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No I do not need a point of order. I want the Minister to perhaps develop the answer a little further. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I have asked the Minister to give an answer. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I appreciate that and my point of order might help him. I seek leave to table the article concerned so that the Minister might be able to refer to the quotes. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is done at the end—but leave is sought to table. Is there any objection? There is. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: No I do not agree. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Would the Minister consider— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The answer from the Minister was “No I do not agree.” What does he not agree to? He was asked whether he is still willing to explain— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No the member is just being— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: No I am not. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member was asked whether he agreed and he said no he did not. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: No he was not asked that. The question was very specific: is he happy to explain why “there is no possibility of electricity shortages in New Zealand” as he was in October last year. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister said “No”. He can say “Yes” or “No” in answer to a question— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: No no. He said: “No I don’t agree.” 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Please be seated. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Would the Minister classify the year 2003 as an exceptionally dry year; if so why? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The first half of 2001 saw the lowest inflows ever recorded. Inflows in 2003 so far are somewhat lower so yes it is exceptional. 
Peter Brown 
: Noting the earlier answers to Gerry Brownlee’s questions does the Minister accept that right now there are employers working people and elderly retired folk on fixed incomes who are very worried about the current situation—indeed are very worried about how the whole thing has been handled—and how will the Minister allay their fears without some sort of flippant answer? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I do not think that this is a flippant issue at all. Yes I accept that we might well be in serious difficulty and that we might end up with some social and economic disruption if we are not able to save sufficiently now. That is why the Government has asked the State sector to show leadership and get itself to a position of 15 percent savings in electricity and why the electricity industry has asked New Zealanders as a whole to try to meet savings of 10 percent. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Does the Minister recall telling a Dunedin election meeting in July last year that as a result of his energy reforms he could assure the public that they would see no more newspaper headlines saying “Power cuts likely”; and given headlines like the one in this Tuesday’s  
New Zealand Herald 
: “Power cuts loom as lake levels slump … a worried watchdog lifts the electricity saving target to 10 percent” will he now accept that his policies have failed; if he does why does he not resign? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The question was too long but the last part of the question was in order. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: In answer to the first part of the question I do not recall telling an election meeting in Dunedin what the member suggested I told it but if he has any record of that I would be very happy to see it. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Given the fact that the State-owned enterprise Genesis Energy has not been running the Huntly power station at capacity over recent weeks and months—reportedly because it did not order enough coal soon enough—which has caused the lake levels to drop further what steps is the Minister taking to hold Genesis accountable for its lack of social responsibility and contingency planning? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The member would not be surprised to know that we are in regular contact with Genesis Energy. However it is fair to suggest that earlier this week there was quite a lot of shift in the fossil fuel situation that Genesis now faces. Specifically some gas contracts involving Contact Energy have been brought forward and my hope is that Huntly will now move to a higher rate of generation. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Noting that in the answer to Ross Robertson the Minister has now recognised he was wrong last October and that we now do have an electricity crisis will he be supporting suggestions from people like Roger Sutton the chief executive of line company Orion New Zealand who suggested that short power blackouts might be required to scare people into power savings and suggestions from others of domestic water heating cuts of up to 18 hours a day; if so why? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Water heating cuts are likely to begin quite soon and initially they are likely to be quite short. In fact they might already have begun in certain parts of the country—2 hours here 4 hours there and so on. If we are to do what we did in 1992 and move to the next step of 18-hour power cuts for water heaters that will start to save electricity because it will reduce the amount of hot water available to consumers. Blackouts on the other hand are very much a last resort. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Does the Minister intend fronting power-saving advertisements on television as he did during the last power crisis? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The industry has some television advertisements beginning on Saturday or Sunday—I cannot remember which—that are not being fronted by me. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Does the Minister stand by his statement on 5 October last year that Mr Gerry Brownlee was irresponsibly scaremongering when he said that if there were not more generation we faced the risk of brownouts or blackouts; and now that he is wrong will he apologise to National’s spokesperson on energy? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Around that time last year Mr Brownlee put out a number of remarkable statements. In particular my statement saying that he was scaremongering had nothing to do with generation—I have been misquoted again—but was actually to do with Transpower forecasting in its supply security notice on which he said that some security problem at the top half of the South Island meant we would all be plunged into darkness. Transpower then went on TV3 and said that Mr Brownlee had it wrong. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I seek leave to table a report released today talking of rolling blackouts across Tauranga City during peak times in which the Port of Tauranga says that without power for cranes New Zealand’s largest export port would “grind to a standstill”. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I seek leave to table the article published on 5 October in the  
Press 
 of Christchurch in which Mr Hodgson said that Mr Brownlee was scaremongering to warn of brownouts and blackouts. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that press release. Is there any objection? There is.