Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. ACT will be supporting this bill. We believe that it's important that New Zealand has a secure energy supply including high density liquid fuels like petrol diesel and jet fuel because that is what our economy runs on. That is how we're connected to the rest of the world. The problem the Government is trying to solve is security of supply.Now we've heard from many concerned citizens over the past couple of years that they are very worried by the closure of the Marsden Point oil refinery which means that New Zealand no longer has offshore processing capability for crude oil into a range of products and it's true that that has major implications for our economy. For example crude oil when it arrived in New Zealand had a relatively high sulphur content and New Zealand's refining processes at Marsden Point removed that sulphur to produce a high quality low sulphur diesel. That sulphur that was removed was then itself polished and refined and made available as a commercial chemical product elemental sulphur to be used in all kinds of processes including manufacturing sulphuric acid and adding sulphur to phosphate and other fertilisers to create a product that Kiwi farmers might be familiar with: superphosphate.Now it's also resulted the closure of Marsden Point in the loss of a source of carbon dioxide which is a by-product of refining crude oil into petrol and diesel. That carbon dioxide is used to package food to preserve food it's used in greenhouses and all kinds of other industrial applications where industrial gases like carbon dioxide are very valuable. So the closure of Marsden Point oil refinery has not just raised issues about security of supply for onshore fuel stocks but also the availability of other by-products from the manufacturing of petrol and diesel and jet fuel at Marsden Point.That actually shows what New Zealand's big problem is: 5 million people at the bottom of the world at the end of a global supply chain who don't have many options and who need to consider very very carefully when decisions are made around public policy that might affect the things that businesses want to do. Last night in the House for example the Government pushed through a piece of legislation under urgency which would apply a levy on natural gas—natural clean gas extracted from existing reservoirs in Taranaki—retrospectively which means that business investment decisions made in the past decade or so about investing in production investing in people investing in personnel and investing in technology are at risk by a Government increasing its take of royalties from 5 to 10 percent up to 20 percent on the natural gas removed from existing reservoirs. It's decisions like that that cause businesses particularly those funded by foreign direct investment or with a share of foreign ownership—which we absolutely depend on to underpin our local domestic economy—to be concerned about their risk of operating in New Zealand.That's a concept called sovereign risk. When Governments pass bad laws or push bad policies or push through bills under urgency as this one is or announce things without having done the policy research or a benefit-cost analysis that's what causes Kiwi investors and international investors to think twice about coming to New Zealand and that may well have played into the thinking behind the closure of Marsden Point which was a privately owned facility which got to a certain point in its asset life where the owners of that facility had to make a decision. We've got 5 million customers in New Zealand. They don't earn as much as their neighbours across the ditch in Australia; they can't pay as much for stuff. If we want to continue processing crude oil into refined petrol diesel and jet fuel in New Zealand our asset's at the end of its life or nearing it. We're going to need to make a huge investment potentially in the billions of dollars."The New Zealand Government has taken a stake in that oil refinery at Marsden Point in the past under a previous National Government. Over a billion dollars was tipped into that refinery to stand up additional hydrocarbon cracking and processing equipment back in the 1980s. The New Zealand Government the taxpayer is not about to tip a billion dollars into an oil refinery in 2023—that was never going to happen—but private sector would still continue to invest in plant and equipment if they thought that there was a long run available for them to recover their cost of capital and that there was no additional risk of a Government like this Labour Government passing laws in the night under urgency with no consultation like they did last night with the levy on energy resources—natural gas.So there's an issue with security of supply there's an issue with infrastructure and then there's an issue with this Government and its absolute allergy to foreign direct investment. Again we saw that in yesterday's Budget. There's not enough money to rebuild the infrastructure that we need that was damaged by cyclones and storms—only a few hundred million dollars to what the Government has said is a multibillion-dollar damage bill. There was no provision for public-private partnerships where the Government might chip in some money in expectation of doing a deal with the private sector investors say to invest in new roads or rail or other types of infrastructure New Zealand vitally needs. This Government is allergic to private sector capital and investment and that is one of the reasons I surmise that the Marsden Point oil refinery closed and we find ourselves in this situation.Then I want to come to the issue of resiliency. Hon Julie Anne Genter: What are you talking about?Hon Andrew Little: Corporate welfare—he supports corporate welfare.SIMON COURT: Last year—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Well Labour are good at that!SIMON COURT: Now I want to be—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Look at the Budget! Unbelievable! The corporate welfare in that—SIMON COURT: Mr Brownlee makes a good point. This Government is tipping hundreds of millions of dollars into green initiatives that don't reduce emissions by a single tonne of carbon because New Zealand's emissions are already capped under the emissions trading scheme and is making all kinds of excuses about why it can't do things when it comes to investing in infrastructure.Now ACT's not advocating for corporate welfare and here comes the dilemma—here comes the dilemma—because New Zealand at the end of a global supply chain does need to have regard for its resilience and security of fuel supply. Now last year in October 2022 I asked the Minister what is New Zealand's total stock of fuel held onshore at any one time in tonnes and days and the Minister replied: 25 days' worth of diesel 47 days' worth of petrol and 94 days' or three months' worth of jet fuel which is quite helpful but remember at that time we still weren't quite sure whether we could leave the country without some kind of passport or whether we'd be allowed to come and go. So I'm not surprised there was a big stock of jet fuel back in October.Now 25 days' worth of diesel: the New Zealand economy runs on diesel. That's milk tankers picking up the milk from farms that's trucks taking food from distribution warehouses to supermarkets. The entire economy runs on diesel but fortunately there are some great Kiwi investors and entrepreneurs technical specialists who are introducing hydrogen into the diesel supply chain in the form of hydrogen injectors to decarbonise and reduce the amount of emissions from diesel. So it's not all downside if you're an environmentalist and you're concerned about protecting the climate.But when I asked this question in October 2022 the Minister then replied to say the Government was going to procure 70 million litres of diesel to hold onshore and this was back in November last year. So now we're in May nearly June. The Minister promised that this would be a matter of urgency because of our issues around security of supply and risk and yet it's May and the bill's been dropped under urgency.So the ACT Party doesn't believe it's really been a priority for the Government. They've been focused on other things like finding more money like the $50 million they found last night from taxing natural gas finding more money down the back of the couch to pay for their pet projects. No doubt there'll be more bike bridges cycle lanes and all kinds of other things that hardly anyone will use and are unlikely to get built announced between now and the election. The ACT Party says this Government needs to focus on its priorities. That's delivering infrastructure so that Kiwis can have better and healthier lives and if that includes spending money on things like roads bridges and other ways for people to get around efficiently then that's what they should be doing. But the ACT Party will support this bill—disappointed it's under urgency; the problem's been known about for a long time."