Heatley Phil: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Heatley Phil: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 14 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4366. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PHIL HEATLEY (Minister of Energy and Resources) 
: 
 I would like to take the time tonight to talk about the renewables track record for electricity generation in New Zealand because I think it is something that all New Zealanders can be particularly proud of. But I would like to correct the last speaker Gareth Hughes who was complaining about Taranaki. He was laying out that the oil and gas industry in Taranaki is problematic because Taranaki has the lowest percentage of employment for any region producing X amount of GDP. In other words Taranaki produces a whole lot of GDP—gross domestic product measured in cash—for the lowest number of jobs. He was saying that what that means is that not many jobs are produced. What it actually means is that the people are paid really well. The reason why the GDP per capita is so high in Taranaki is that the average salary in Taranaki is upward of $75000 a year. 
In other words what you have here is the Green Party advocating that it would rather have more much-lower-paid jobs than have higher-paid jobs. In Taranaki where unemployment is at the same level as across the country where the average wage and salary is $75000-plus it can all be put down to the successful oil and gas industry in that region which has gone along happily for 50 years alongside dairy farming and tourism. Have we ever heard a peep of a problem out of Taranaki? No. But apparently according to the Greens now that National is supporting its strategy of dairy farming tourism and oil and gas exploration in Taranaki—something that has never been a problem for five or six decades but now National is promoting that as perhaps a strategy other regions could look at—the sky is going to fall on our heads. That is what is so ridiculous about that debate. Rather than talk about offshore let us look at our onshore experience. Taranaki has clearly done it successfully for many decades and there is no reason why it cannot be repeated sensibly elsewhere. 
Seventy-seven percent of our electricity generation in New Zealand is done through renewables. That is something I do not think most New Zealanders know. Fifty-eight percent of it is hydro about 13 percent is geothermal and 4.5 percent is wind generation. That is a stunning record. I think it is in the top two or three in the world although I stand to be corrected. Norway is way up there with something like 99 percent of electricity generation being renewable. Interestingly the economy of Norway which has renewable electricity generation—good for them very clean and green—is built off the back of a very successful oil and gas industry in a place called the North Sea. Norway—can you think of a cleaner greener country—actually has oil and gas exploration. Its economy is built off the back of it and it is a very successful society indeed. So yes you can have renewable electricity generation and all those good things and a successful oil and gas industry which by the way means you can drive along in a car catch an aeroplane jump on a number of trains that are powered in that way and do a whole bunch of other things like make plastics make fridges make sofas and everything else you do with oil or using the energy of oil and gas. 
We have a proud record in New Zealand. We want to reach 90 percent renewable electricity generation by 2025. At 77 percent in the last year I believe we are heading that way. It could dip a bit this year because the hydro levels have been low so we have had to burn a bit more gas but on the whole we are tracking in the right direction. 
Conservation of course is also part of that story. I will not spend the time talking too much about the extension of our insulation scheme. Over 4 years 188000 houses across New Zealand were to be insulated—that is 188000 private house owners able to access subsidies from this Government to insulate their houses. We have extended that to 240000 houses across New Zealand. This means it will run out a bit over 4 years and next year of course we are going to have to make a Budget decision about whether we extend that or not. But it is a successful story—the renewable electricity generation the conservation measures around the insulation of housing and of course insulating every State house in the country that can be insulated across New Zealand next year and our promotion of our oil and gas industry. 
Vote agreed to.