Mackey Moana: Electricity (Renewable Preference) Repeal Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Mackey Moana: Electricity (Renewable Preference) Repeal Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:954] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am happy to take a call on clauses 1 2 and 3 of the bill. Again I urge the Minister of Energy and Resources to get on his feet and actually respond to the criticisms and the questions of the Opposition. I hope the Minister is not running on renewable energy because if he is I am starting to think it ain’t so flash. Instead of sitting there and yawning looking through his picture book and doodling on the little bit of paper in front of him maybe he could take a call. 
I remind the Minister that we are in urgency because of his Government. He is giving us looks as though somehow it is our fault that he is forced to sit in the chair and answer questions. He is yawning like nothing else. I remind him that it was his Government that called urgency— 
Chris Tremain 
: And this is the title. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: —and is putting this bill through the House under urgency and that is the reason he is in the chair. Maybe we could call the bill I say to Mr Tremain the “Would It Not Be Wonderful If We Had a Minister in the Chair Who Took a Call Bill”. Maybe that would be a good title for this legislation. 
Once again we see legislation being rammed through Parliament under urgency that does not have to be rammed through Parliament under urgency. Maybe another title for this legislation could be the “We Desperately Need to Look Like We Are Doing Something in the 100 Days of Turbocharged Aspirational Action That We Promised the Electorate So We Are Forcing Through Legislation That Could Have Gone to a Select Committee Because We Have Decided That the Right of the People of New Zealand to Have Their Say at a Select Committee is Less Important Than Our Image That We Are Doing Something Bill”. I know that it is a long name but I think it fairly encompasses— 
Hon Member 
: It’s longer than the bill! 
MOANA MACKEY 
: —it is longer than the bill—what the bill does. I know that members on this side of the House have been making this point a lot during urgency. That is because 100 percent of the bills passed so far have been rammed through under urgency with no select committee process. That might be a record that the member is proud of and his little twitchy smile tells me that he is proud of it but the select committee process is important to this House. It is a way that we can make legislation better. There are concerns—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Hon Member 
: It protects them from themselves. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: It does. The Minister may think he knows everything but there may be some people out there in the country who know a little bit more about this and who want to have their say. People who are affected by this legislation might want to have their say and the Minister is denying them that right. I think that is appalling. 
Another title for this bill could be “Another Bad Day for the Planet Bill”. My colleague Steve Chadwick in her contribution earlier raised the fact that this bill is part of the trifecta of the urgency last week and this week. Mr Brownlee in either his first or his second reading speech—I cannot remember which one it was because they were so close together; they did not have the usual 6-month select committee process in between them and were about an hour apart—basically said that doing something will make things worse. That is also the argument we heard from Mr Brownlee on the biofuel legislation—that the fact that we had done something would make things worse than if we had done absolutely nothing and left it up to the market to decide everything. Well I say that it is shameful for a Government to absolve itself from responsibility like that. It may have no ideas on how to do anything but that does not mean it should be ramming through legislation under urgency to repeal legislation that was developed at a select committee and was passed through this House when it actually has no idea what it will do. 
This is yet another piece of legislation that puts the cart before the horse. The Minister is saying to the people of New Zealand: “Trust me; trust me that I will do what I said I would do and that I will implement all the things that I am promising to make this better.” Well why should we trust this Minister? He comes from a Government that in 2 weeks has made New Zealand a laughing stock on the world stage when it comes to climate change. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Rubbish! 
MOANA MACKEY 
: It is true I say to Dr Smith. The member probably has no concern about New Zealand being a laughing stock. He is probably quite used to it. But the fact is that is how we are now being seen. In 2 weeks the Government has undone a number of years’ worth of good work and for no reason. Today the Minister Gerry Brownlee—he might consider this a good day at the office—lost a businessman the $10 million that he had invested by repealing the biofuel obligation. The Minister in the chair might be proud of that—I do not know; I do not know what drives some of the people in the National Government—but one would think that it would be a bad thing. 
We could also describe this bill as incredibly bad for research and development in New Zealand. Last week we had the repeal of the research and development tax credit which would have helped some of our most innovative businesses some of which were doing work in this area. Mr Brownlee knocked them out last week. This week he is knocking out renewable energy.