Tremain Chris: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTremain Chris: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 05 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16384. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier): I certainly agree with the Green member Gareth Hughes on one point and that is that New Zealanders do have choices going into this election and are faced with a very positive choice going forward with some of the best news that we have seen in the economy not only in years but in decades. This is an economy where consumer confidence is at its highest in 20 years if not 30. This is an economy where business confidence is at its highest in 30 years. This is an economy where unemployment is now coming down to 6 percent. We will be into the 5 percent range I believe in this year alone. This is an economy where we are seeing tax growth and we are seeing expenditure control. This is just great news and this bill the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill is another small step in the progress of this country towards achieving the economic growth that now puts us as one of the leading countries in the world.It is interesting to reflect upon the choices that Kiwis have as Mr Hughes put up just before particularly given that for a number of years the Opposition cried that this National Government did not have a plan. It cried that this Government did not have a plan to achieve the growth that we are currently seeing before us. The Business Growth Agenda which the Prime Minister and the Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce rolled out came out 3 years ago. We are now seeing the latest update of that theBusiness Growth Agenda Progress Report 2013 which has literally hundreds of initiatives that we are continuing to tick off in order to achieve the type of future that this side of the House believes is going to be fantastic for our entire nation.Within this Business Growth Agenda we deal with the six factors of production. I know that is going to be difficult for some members on the other side of the House to understand but they are actually the things that drive an economy. These factors are around our export markets our capital markets our innovation and our skilled workplaces. They are around investing in our people investing in our infrastructure and very importantly investing in our natural resources. In that respect oil is a key factor of production in driving our economy. There are two parts to that: one growing our domestic production of that supply and two ensuring our security of supply. In terms of domestic production we have seen a season like very few others in the last decade in terms of the exploration that has taken place to improve domestic production and to improve the difference between what we are importing and what we are exporting. That is a positive thing. The second thing that we are doing goes to the heart of this bill and that is improving the security of supply.This bill the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill takes some small steps to do that to ensure that if there are future fuel crises we have a 90-day supply. It may not be stored here in New Zealand but this provides the methodology to achieve that. Without going any further I think this country is heading in a very positive direction. We continue to take small steps to drive wonderful economic growth and a very positive future. This bill delivers in that respect. Thank you.