Simpson ScottHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Thank you Madam Speaker. I too join with colleagues from across the Chamber in supporting this piece of legislation. It's been a long time coming. New Zealand—it's fair to say I think—could be accurately referred to as an outlier in terms of our speed at which we have confirmed the arrangements under this protocol. In fact I did a little of research earlier this evening—I didn't sit on the select committee so I wasn't privy to the submissions that were made and I see that the select committee records show that there were only eight submissions and only two were heard orally by the committee. But I did a little bit of research and I see that there have been a number of academics who have been literally badgering successive Governments over a long number of years to sign up to this protocol and for New Zealand to be playing our role in terms of our international obligations.There is a Dr Bevan Marten from Victoria University who's written a number of very good papers on why New Zealand should have formalised the MARPOL Annex IV provisions far earlier than we have. In amongst it he says—and this was back in 2016—that The global conversation around the amount of pollutants that enter [the] earth's atmosphere is impossible to ignore and shipping-related emissions are no exception." We of course by virtue of our position on the globe rely probably more so than just about any other nation in the world on reliable shipping networks between ourselves and the rest of the world. We are literally surrounded by the largest moat in the world so shipping plays a huge part in our ability to be functioning as a prosperous First World economy.Pretty much everything that we need to import into New Zealand that obviously doesn't come by air has to come by definition by sea unless my colleague Maureen Pugh does a good swimming job across the Tasman.Maureen Pugh: Probably not.Hon SCOTT SIMPSON: Probably not? OK. So there are pretty much only the two ways of getting product in and out of New Zealand: air and by sea. The vast bulk of volume is by sea. We also haven't had the benefit of an international fleet of vessels that are flagged under our New Zealand flag. So for many years this was an issue that we sort of coat-tailed on the rest of the world with.Most other countries I think it's something like 95 percent of countries have actually already signed up years ago to this MARPOL annex—years and years ago. Most of the vessels that actually visit here to deliver goods or to take them away from our mostly primary production sectors are actually already complying. So one of the roadblocks has actually been the impact that this change will have on our domestic coastal shipping around the country.I'm particularly reminded of the very good work of a former member of this House Annabel Young who ended up being for a long period of time the executive director of the New Zealand Shipping Federation. She used to take every possible opportunity to lobby members of this House and this Parliament and previous Parliaments about the impacts that the acceptance and the confirmation of this annex would have on the coastal shipping arrangements around New Zealand.Because international vessels are mostly compliant it's our local ones that haven't been. Part of the reason that they haven't been is of course cost. I've heard other speakers this evening indicate that one of the reasons is that the lower - sulphur oxide diesel is more expensive because the refinery up at Marsden Point doesn't produce it and it has to be imported and therefore there is a knock-on cost effect. So if we have our coastal shipping having to buy bunker fuel at a higher price then we actually all end up paying for that one way or another because of the cost of the goods that are shipped around the coast of New Zealand—eventually sooner or later we as consumers all pay for that. But I would argue that in matters such as this where we are taking cognisance of our place as a global citizen and a good world citizen we should be prepared and willing—if necessary—to pay the price for a better environment outcome even if in terms of global impact the changes here in New Zealand will be actually very small. Those changes send a significant message to the world that we are taking our responsibilities seriously albeit late.So we do support this piece of legislation. One of the things that also comes up quite often when people are talking about this fuel and the changes and the low sulphur fuel is people sometimes make the mistake of assuming that just because most international shipping and our coastal shipping is fuelled by diesel it's similar to the same kind of diesel that you might put into a tractor or a domestic vehicle. They could not be more dissimilar. In the 2016 paper that I referred to earlier by Dr Bevan Marten from Victoria University he makes the very good point that "The vast majority (95 %) of the world's shipping fleet runs on diesel. However the diesel used in ships (usually referred to as bunker oil) is much lower quality than is used in road vehicles. Bunker fuel is much cheaper as it is virtually a waste product of the standard oil refining process. It is a cross between a solid and a liquid that is too thick for road vehicles—it is literally 'the bottom of the barrel.'"So people see the impacts of this bottom-of-the-barrel thick sludgy bunker diesel that is used for fuelling the vessels that we're talking about and they see it most regularly and obviously when they are looking at vessels that are sort of parked up that are in ports—Auckland Tauranga Lyttelton—and these vessels are often kind of idling to keep the things going. You'll see the black smoke coming literally out of the funnels. I've seen it here in Wellington on a still day when the harbour will be smudged with a black air line across the harbour that comes—and Paul Eagle I think he's seen the same thing. It's quite disturbing when it is obvious and literally putting a black smudge across the pristine air of Wellington. Now I know that Wellington doesn't actually have too many clear still days but when it does happen it's very marked it's very obvious and it's very apparent to even the casual observer—the obvious air pollution impact that this heavy diesel bunker fuel has.So this is a piece of legislation that has been a long time coming. I think the Transport and Infrastructure Committee from what I've read and the reports I've heard have done good work. This will I think save our face to a degree because we have been so slow. I noticed also that one of the concerns that the shipping federation has had is that well if the fuel is not coming from Marsden Point then we're going to have to import it and that will be expensive the logistics of it will be complicated and how will the New Zealand coastal fleet actually get to it? Well I was delighted to see that back in May of this year the ports of Auckland and BP have actually entered into a commercial partnership to secure low sulphur fuel for oil suppliers for shipping through the Port of Auckland. And it seems that the ports of Auckland—they have a subsidiary called Seafuels and in their commercial partner BP they've reached an agreement to use the bunker barge Awanuia to deliver MARPOL-compliant very low sulphur fuel for the marine market in Auckland and be serviced out of the Auckland port. So that's an agreement that will help overcome the logistical challenges that some were concerned about in terms of this piece of legislation that we're considering here tonight. The markets sort of solved the problem as often the market does. So they've seen a commercial opportunity they understand the imperatives they understand that there is a market for low sulphur bunker fuel and they've sought a way forward to do it. So I commend the ports of Auckland and BP for taking the initiative and for getting ahead of this piece of legislation. And good on them. I hope it works well for them.So congratulations to the House—I think unanimity across the House tonight. We on the National Party side of the House we support this legislation and do commend it even though it is belatedly to the House."