Copeland Gordon: Energy Safety Review Bill — First Reading 
Copeland Gordon: Energy Safety Review Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:627;Page:21804] 
GORDON COPELAND (United Future) 
: 
 There are nights when I am quite grateful that I belong to United Future a sensible centre party when I hear the rabid comments of members of the National Party and the ACT party on bills like this. It was quite amazing to hear Simon Power of the National Party rage about “180 pages of regulation”. I remind him that four professional groups are involved in this regulation—those overseen by the Electrical Workers Licensing Board and the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board. It works out to 45 pages per profession. 
I would like Simon Power who happens to be a lawyer to contrast this bill with the bulky Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill which his party desperately wants to get through which is just for the legal profession and is just an addition to the existing law for that profession. In some ways he seems to show the rather smug and superior attitude of a lawyer whose profession has a huge bulk of legislation in place—with by the way the total support and backing of the profession—looking down his nose at these groups and saying that they are just plumbers or just drainlayers. It is not a credible way to proceed in life. 
That brings to mind something I remember very well. I have a good friend who is a radiologist and in his leisure time—his annual holidays—makes a habit of going to India and working amongst people in the slums. When he first came back he told me that when he was studying medicine a professor said to the class one day: “Just in case you guys studying medicine get too arrogant I want to make the statement that plumbers and drainlayers have done more for the health of human beings on this planet than all the doctors put together.” My friend told me that they had all laughed the comment to scorn but that now he had been in a part of the world with no decent drains or decent plumbing he had to conclude that it was no more than the simple truth. I ask National Party and ACT members to be a little more circumspect about sneering comments such as some of those we have heard tonight when it comes to people like plumbers and drainlayers because on the whole—I agree with Peter Brown about this—they do a great job for us. 
But I say to Peter Brown that there are some horror stories around. I have some friends who had a brand new house built. They shifted in and were very happy with it but as the weeks went by a terrible smell started to emerge from underneath the house. They finally got the local council inspector in to have a look only to find that the plumber had connected their sewerage to a couple of pipes that went 2 metres and then stopped and were open at the other end. That is the ultimate sort of disaster story. 
Human nature being what it is and so on I think it is really ridiculous to say in 2005 that we do not need any regulation. I agree in spirit that we should minimise regulation or be light-handed. But it is quite interesting to see that the EnergySafe working party which has been responsible for putting this bill together represents 30 organisations and the four affected professions I have mentioned. The legislation has been drafted in extensive consultation with that group. Furthermore as we all know the bill will go from here to a select committee—it will do so by the way because United Future will support the bill—and the affected groups will all have another opportunity to come along and say their piece. That will be the right time to deal with any nitty-gritty issues that might arise. 
So the bottom line for United Future is looking at the big picture. We think that this bill is a common-sense sensible centre measure. It is not new regulation; it simply updates and streamlines existing regulations. On that basis we are happy to lend it our support.