Smith StuartSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Thank you Mr Speaker. Well it is not a pleasure actually to speak on this Energy Resources Levy Amendment Bill. It's still unclear exactly what we're doing here. It seems a retrospective changing of the rules and actually natural gas—which we are really reliant on to keep the lights on in New Zealand we're reliant on to keep our businesses and manufacturing actually up and running. And those industries and anyone who's investing in that area has already got very little confidence because of the sovereign risk in New Zealand when the former Prime Minister decided she wanted a good press moment overseas and decided to ban oil and gas exploration offshore in New Zealand where we have huge resources potentially and large amounts of potential royalties that New Zealand could benefit from. But in fact I know from a personal contact—who was dealing with a banker overseas for a large project nothing to do with oil and gas—who told me that the bank would not support that project because New Zealand used to be a low sovereign risk country. Since the oil and gas ban it is now seen as a huge fiscal and sovereign risk because the rug could be pulled out from those businesses at any moment because the Government will make a decision on a whim—on a whim—without any consultation. And we've just seen this bill right now and we heard a woolly speech from a Minister who should know what she's talking about but appeared not to telling us an explanation that doesn't make any sense to me at this moment. If they wanted to really do this and thought it was essential you'd think there'd be a little bit of a take-aside out the back in the Ayes or Noes lobby with a bit of an explanation: This is what we're doing. We've got a problem here. We really need to do it." But no no; nothing from this Government on that. I mean the lack of energy in the Prime Minister's speech earlier on is a great sign of the symptoms and the problems going on. I think Napoleon's sharpening his sword up quite frankly as we speak. Hon Dr Duncan Webb: That'll be Nicola Willis.STUART SMITH: It's ironic that they're grasping at straws over here. The reality is that this is a very narrow bill which is attempting to change the rules retrospectively and disingenuously and it will put another shock through the oil and gas sector who are not actually keen to invest now anyway. It means for every New Zealander that the royalties that go into the consolidated accounts that help pay for all of our other services that we have will now be put at risk. Not only is it that; the Huntly coal-fired power station which runs mostly a lot on gas as well is burning so much coal because of that Government. That Government's ban on oil and gas exploration has sent a shock through the system. We don't have the exploration going on that we should have so we don't have the gas. We should have been burning more gas at Huntly than we are burning coal but they won't allow us to. That's just outrageous. Hon Gerry Brownlee: I'm looking at the actual bill.STUART SMITH: Well the actual bill's got to—Hon Gerry Brownlee: I'm just trying to make sense of it.STUART SMITH: Well yeah I'd love to make sense of it as well. I haven't had an opportunity to actually read it yet. But it shows how desperate they are. They don't even show us the bill before it comes up.Chris Penk: What a bullshit ambush.STUART SMITH: It is a bullshit ambush and let the record show that. I find it really strange. I just wonder why they would actually do this at this moment. I don't know. We've got two very experienced former Ministers who actually knew what they were doing in the energy portfolio the Hon Gerry Brownlee and here on my right the Hon Judith Collins. Both of those would know twice as much as the Minister across the way who doesn't seem to understand the sector how it works and how the people in that industry will actually see this bill. They will not like it and quite rightly so.I don't know what the Minister thinks she is doing trying to increase the levy across different sectors when they had an agreement in the beginning. New discoveries are a different kettle of fish but we're not talking about that; we're talking about pre-1986 and there's going to be a top-up levy which the Minister is putting out there. All the other providers—hopefully my colleagues are able to get through the very short bill while I am speaking to find something of substance but I am seeing by the look on the Hon Gerry Brownlee's face that—it's a bit like the Minister—the bill's got very little substance. What about you Judith? No.Hon Gerry Brownlee: They're not even statute amendments.STUART SMITH: They're not even statute—Hon Gerry Brownlee: It's just the Government waving a flag saying "How clever we are."STUART SMITH: Yeah. Oh well they are poor; they've spent all the money as we've seen today. It is outrageous. It is such a worrying time for us in New Zealand. We have a Government that is addicted to spending—we know that—but they've left the books in such a state that when we get the opportunity to sit on that side of the House in October we will find a lot of landmines in the books I'm sure. We will wonder how we've got through to this stage actually keeping our head above water. I see a real risk now for us in New Zealand—already before this bill came up—that we would suffer a credit downgrade. Now I think this sort of action is adding to that risk quite significantly. So we oppose this bill. I take no great pleasure. I think if there was something that would be useful to New Zealand useful to the taxpayer I would have been very pleased to stand up here and actually support the bill. I don't want to be partisan for partisanship's sake but I'm left with little choice having not been given the courtesy of any sort of a heads-up on this bill telling us why they are in trouble. Actually it makes me really suspicious. Perhaps things are far worse—far worse—than we imagined. I'm not sure how we're going to find out just how bad this is in the coming days but I think that the Minister's woolly speech actually gives us a—Matt Doocey: No select committee.STUART SMITH: Yeah no select committee and this is a time when a select committee—we could have accommodated a select committee overnight if it was a desperate measure to get some feedback from the industry. But no; no opportunity for that. Why? Are they afraid of something? Afraid of too much information getting out? I think that's probably what it is. That's why we wouldn't get a heads-up. Why give us a chance to actually see what the real reason is behind this bill! I don't know what it is. Neither do any of my colleagues. I'm not sure what we're going to do with the—Chris Penk: The ink's drying on it for goodness' sake.STUART SMITH: Well yes the Minister's got her head down. I'm quite sure she'd be worried about it. So we oppose this bill. We hope to get some more information from the speeches that come after this. It's unlikely but we will live in hope. And with that I do not support this bill."