Smith Nick: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Smith Nick: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:631;Page:3069] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 It is little wonder that the electricity industry and the International Energy Agency highlight New Zealand as a country where energy policy is a mess when incompetents like Clayton Cosgrove give speeches like that in this Parliament. Let me tell members a few of the things that have been highlighted both in that report and by Keith Turner whom Mr Cosgrove chose to quote. Let me say exactly what Mr Turner said about the state of our electricity system. He said there are lines in New Zealand that are so poorly maintained we are at risk of being in a Third World situation in respect of electricity supply. The Electricity Commission an agency this Government set up has had to admit it made a mistake of about 180 megawatts in the minzone which amounts to the amount of electricity that would service 120000 households. 
Then there is the complete mess in Government policy. I wonder whether the Minister in the chair Clayton Cosgrove can tell us whether we are going to have a targeted carbon tax for the companies we are talking about. The silence is deafening. The Minister in the chair is not able to tell us even whether a carbon tax will be imposed on those companies. I ask the Minister in the chair how he can possibly get new investment in the electricity sector if he cannot answer even a basic question like that. 
Let us recite what happened. At the Commerce Committee when the representatives of Genesis Energy were before us they told us they were sick of this Government relying on the Huntly power station to bail it out. Pete Hodgson told us in the House 5 years ago that this Government’s energy strategy was to ensure we had more renewable energy. Well do members know that in the brief 6 years of this Government we have trebled the amount of electricity produced from coal? That is what has happened under this Government. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: We just switched fuels. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Mr Hodgson chips in and says the Government had a strategy to increase the amount of energy produced from renewables—but it has achieved exactly the opposite of that. 
We have had the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy and if ever there was a Government flop it was that strategy. I notice the Green Party is represented in the Chamber; that strategy was its great brainchild. The strategy stated we would achieve a 10 percent gain in efficiency by 2006 and we have actually achieved far less than was achieved in the last 5 years of a National Government. Then the Government has talked about developing an energy strategy. Five or 6 years after Labour has been in Government we are finally to get a strategy out of it! Well I have news for the Government: that strategy will have as much credibility as the energy efficiency strategy of which not a single target has been met— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Not a single target? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
:—not a single target. Whether in terms of renewable sources or of efficiencies that strategy was not worth the paper it was written on. This Government has spent $100 million on that strategy yet it is fascinating that under National there was a 0.75 percent improvement in efficiency each year whereas under this Government it has been less than that—only 0.5 percent. That is what the public has received in return for its $100 million. 
In respect of transmission there is huge confusion within the sector as to who is calling the shots: the Commerce Commission Transpower New Zealand or the Electricity Commission. There is huge uncertainty in the sector about the Government’s Kyoto policies. Every single part of those policies is in tatters. There is no policy. How can we possibly expect there to be any investment in new generation when there is a policy shambles the like of which I have not seen in any area as great as that in respect of climate change? The Minister in the chair says wind power is the answer. Well I have news for the Minister: even after the wind farms have been constructed—and two have been cancelled in the last month—the reality is that the amount of energy produced by wind will be less than 1 percent of total generation. And I know that the Minister in the chair knows that Project Aqua and the Dobson River scheme should have gone ahead so that we were not in this difficult situation.