MacLeod DavidDAVID MacLEOD (National—New Plymouth): Thank you Madam Speaker. We've just heard from the Minister for Energy earlier today and he provided an update on the very concerning position New Zealand finds itself in. So my contribution today is indeed about energy. Energy comes in many forms. Some examples are the obvious likes of petrol diesel natural gas LPG methanol oil coal—all of these ones particularly are made from decomposing plants and animals from thousands of years ago and otherwise known as fossil fuels. We also now have hydrogen available and being generated in New Zealand. I recently went to the opening of one of New Zealand's first hydrogen-fuelling stations at Wiri in Auckland. This is one of three stations now open and servicing the golden triangle"—that being between Auckland Hamilton and Tauranga. This hydrogen is not derived from fossil fuels but cleverly uses water electricity and the air we breathe and produces it right there on site. Although there aren't a lot of hydrogen vehicles on the roads here in New Zealand today orders are now being placed by some large fleet owners. The other obvious energy form that affects our daily lives at home and at work is electricity. Electricity is generated by using other primary energy sources that ultimately turn a rotor within a stator and via a process called electromagnetic induction—voila!—electricity is produced. You couldn't tell I'm an electrician. Some of the primary energy sources we use in New Zealand are hydro wind geothermal gas and coal. The one variant to these is solar which uses photovoltaic process generating from the sun's energy. There are basically two classes of electricity generation plants—those that provide base load and those that provide peak load. The peaker power stations are critical when extra electricity is required during very high-demand periods. These plants need to generate electricity very quickly to be effective in doing their job. Hydro stations can actually achieve this but sometimes we don't have enough water in our lakes so hydro has its shortcomings.The other peaker generation of plants we have in New Zealand are gas-driven. These are basically large jet engines just like we have on aeroplanes. They can turn on very very quickly within minutes and these plants are reliable if we have gas to supply them. There is another alternative to keep our electricity supply secure and that is grid-scale batteries. These store electricity that is excess supply to our demand and then poke that electricity back into the grid when we need it. If we are to create a grid-scale battery storage of some kind in an efficient and effective manner that would also help our electricity security. Peaker plants and batteries supply electricity when our lakes are short of water when the sun is not shining when the wind is not blowing and they are essential to the quality electricity supply at a national level.We as a country are transitioning our electricity to renewable generation. This is a mammoth task considering the growing demand that is happening annually. All of the thermal heat required by industry is transitioning away from fossil fuels. Natural gas appliances in our houses are moving to electricity. More electric vehicles are coming on our roads. The list goes on. It is predicted that we need to generate twice the amount of renewable electricity we produce today to meet the 2050 demand forecast. Just think about that—that's a lot of electricity. And you'd like to think that we can make this transition with very few disruptions to our supply hence the importance of peaker plants and/or hopefully batteries in the forthcoming future.Realistically and logically gas is an essential fuel at this time. You've seen the forecast. We are looking at huge amounts of coal being imported from overseas. Just to remind everybody coal is twice as bad emissions-wise than gas. Yet we have gas here in New Zealand and if we could only work together and provide the needed confidence back to the exploration industry. Energy is too important to be politicised. The country needs a quality energy strategy that has strong cross-party support. We need to remove the flip-flop out of our policy vocabulary. We need a consenting process to get this infrastructure built efficiently and effectively—aka fast track. Thank you Madam Speaker."