Young Jonathan: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYoung Jonathan: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 05 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16378. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): Well that was not a bad attempt from my colleague across the House here David Shearer. I would have thought that he would make a fine leader of the Labour Party and perhaps it should reconsiderthat. The Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill is a small but also very important bill. The modern world relies on a vast energy supply to fuel everything from transportation to communications to security and to health delivery systems. Energy plays an important role in the national security of nations all over the world. In any given country energy is used to power the economy.There are a number of members of the International Energy Agency—28 members in all—who have an obligation and a commitment to one another to ensure that they have a minimum of 90 days of their oil imports that they can access in order to bring stability in energy security around the world which in the end brings economic and political stability as well. New Zealand being a small country does not have 90 days of fuel supply here within our own jurisdiction so we enter into contracts with overseas jurisdictions to supply oil to us if there was ever going to be an emergency around the world regarding oil supply. That is very important because that brings the sort of stability that is needed. The normal commercial inventories held by oil companies in New Zealand contribute to our nation’s obligations but as I said the remainder of the obligation is met through the Crown entering into as the Minister said these ticket contracts.There is going to be an impending rise in the ticket requirement principally due to a forecast decline in domestic oil production which we anticipate in the medium term. However due to the large extent of oil exploration that has taken place and is taking place at the moment we anticipate that the domestic production of oil will increase in this country. That is one of the reasons why the levy system that is proposed in this bill can be changed by Order in Council so that it can be increased or decreased as is necessary to work in conjunction with the domestic supply of oil that we retain here in the country.It is important as the previous speaker said that we do have a vote provision to pay for these ticket contracts but that provision is not going to be adequate. A levy-based system where essentially it is user-pays is going to be the way in which we fund that. Over a 3-year period it is going to be approximately $20 million. That is going to be around about 6c per 60-litre tank of fuel. What that offers New Zealand is stability around our oil reserves and supply which brings stability to our economy and national security because right around the world disruptions to energy supply are major impediments to the stability of nations.One of the options of course was to just renege on our obligation and not comply with this obligation. The Government would not do that because that would be an irresponsible level of commitment to those treaties and agreements we have. It is a little bit like if a household comes under a bit of pressure and you decide that you are going to quit your insurance policy. Although that might ease your cash flow it does not do anything to bring confidence to your bank manager who might hold your mortgage. So it is important for us in terms of our international reputation and credibility to maintain our funding to pay for these provisions. All of these are very very important in order to be a nation that carries its responsibilities internationally in the best light.I am very happy to stand here and commend this bill to the House. It is not a large bill but I think it is an important one. It brings about the change that we are shifting to a levy-based system as opposed to funding these ticket contracts out of general taxation. So for all of those who ride their bikes well you know they can be happy. For those who drive our cars we are paying our part for stability in our supply of energy and our economy. Thank you.