Woods MeganENERGY (FUELS LEVIES AND REFERENCES) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): I move that the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Sorry a legislative statement? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Oh yes—sorry. I present a legislative statement on the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I move That the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill be now read a first time.This bill proposes an amendment to the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Act so that the petroleum or engine fuel monitoring levy can be used to cover the costs of strengthening New Zealand's onshore fuel resilience in addition to its existing purposes. One of the existing statutory purposes of the levy is to meet the reasonable cost of complying with New Zealand's 90-day oil reserve obligation under the International Energy Agreement (IEA). However it is unclear whether the levy can be used for initiatives that aim to improve resilience of fuel supplies in New Zealand specifically particularly Government procurement of onshore reserve diesel stock. These initiatives may not meet the reasonable cost test as there is a much cheaper alternative for meeting the IEA obligation—namely purchasing offshore oil tickets. Those tickets give the Government the right to purchase oil and fuel stocks held overseas at market prices during an IEA-declared oil supply emergency. They are useful for our contribution to managing international fuel supply disruptions and we have had cause to release some of our offshore tickets during the Ukrainian conflict to help in international efforts to stabilise the fuel markets. However they are not physically held in New Zealand and they do not support our domestic fuel resilience. This bill will ensure that the Government will have the flexibility to use the levy to fund onshore fuel resilience initiatives other than purchasing oil tickets. In October 2022 the Government announced a Fuel Resilience Policy Package that aims to strengthen New Zealand's fuel resilience and economic security. The package includes introducing a minimum fuel stock obligation on fuel importers which will be legislated through a separate piece of legislation—that is not what this bill is doing. The package also included Government procurement of services relating to storage and management of at least 70 million litres of reserve diesel stocks to be held onshore. This will boost our diesel stock levels to about 28 days of cover on average and will mitigate the risk of disruption to diesel supply which is the most important fuel for critical services. The bill will enable the levy to be used to cover the additional Government administration and procurement costs associated with implementing the Fuel Resilience Policy Package as well as the costs of other potential measures for improving fuel resilience. I intend to have the minimum obligation coming into effect in the coming months so the Government will start incurring costs of administering it soon. These administration costs are expected to be covered by the levy. I also expect the agreements for operationalising the reserve diesel stock arrangements to be finalised by the end of 2023. To make further progress in the relevant procurement processes the Government needs certainty that it can use the levy for this arrangement. In light of this I am seeking to take this bill through all stages under urgency this evening. This bill will enable a smooth roll-out of the Fuel Resilience Policy Package and will better strengthen New Zealand's fuel resilience and economic security. I commend this bill to the House.