Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's disappointing to be here tonight for this third reading of this bill the Gas (Information Disclosure and Penalties) Amendment Bill and to have witnessed what was an unedifying and extremely poor contribution to New Zealanders' understanding of this important legislation. Now there are some aspects of this legislation which ACT would regard as being important: clarifying what information is needed and why about the gas industry and about what gas we have available yet it's not enough. The measures proposed in this bill actually—while some positive—are outweighed ACT believes by the flawed and poorly thought-out instruments that are included in this bill. That is why ACT opposes this bill. At the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee submitters raised some very real risks around the regulatory regime test being essentially invalid and they said that the collection of commercial information by the Government was simply not justified. Submitters rightfully pointed to the Gas Industry Company's own website and their own many hundreds of disclosures about maintenance and operations activities that affect gas supply and about the fact that the Ahuroa gas storage reservoir is monitored on a daily basis for the volume of gas that is pumped into it and what's taken out. They also pointed to the fact that no one can have confidence in a Government that regularly loses people's data and has such a poor record on information technology and information security. That is why ACT opposes this bill and despite proposing amendments in the committee of the whole House to address these risks they were voted down by the Government. In fact before they could be properly discussed and explored the committee stage was collapsed and the Government members and New Zealanders watching at home and reading about the passage of regulations through this House were not allowed an opportunity to better understand the benefits of the amendments that ACT had proposed. That is why we oppose this bill because we will not support legislation that essentially fails a regulatory impact assessment and doesn't meet the ACT Party's test for what is good public policy and we stand by that. However it is disappointing that the Government with all of its numbers and with all of its professors and with all of its doctors and with all of its people from Taranaki that we've heard from tonight couldn't find it in the bottom of their hearts to actually vote for amendments that made the bill better. They preferred to continue along the path that they had chosen. So let's just think about disclosure. The regulatory test the bill sets up is invalid. It is an arbitrary test for the cost versus benefits of a regulatory regime. It does not compare a regulatory regime to the very successful voluntary regime we have now a voluntary regime where there's been more than 300 disclosures published on the Gas Industry Company's website and where at any time of the day or night you can go on to their website and you can see how much gas has been dispatched from gasfields around New Zealand and which of the major users are using it at different times of the day. It tells you everything you need to know about whether New Zealand has enough gas or not enough gas on any particular day. Then we come to the commercial issues. How safe is your data with this Government? This is a legitimate concern. A few weeks ago we learnt that patients and staff at the Waikato DHB had sensitive medical records personal information financial information details about their homes and other activities leaked onto the dark web while this Government sat and fiddled with an IT strategy they'd failed to implement four years down the track.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! I invite the member to come back to the bill.SIMON COURT: Thank you Madam Speaker. Thinking about data security: the police lost firearm licence details the gun buy-back data was available on a website and only last year Budget 2020 was able to be searched—CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! I'd like the member to come back to the third reading of this bill.SIMON COURT: Thank you Madam Speaker for that opportunity. So this bill purports to improve the knowledge that the Government will have about the amount of gas available now and in the future. It sets up a regulatory test the ACT Party believes is invalid and it also proposes to take commercially sensitive information from gas suppliers and major gas users and have that sitting on a Government database somewhere. We are not confident—the ACT Party is not confident—that the Government has the capacity to protect that information. We've heard that having this information is important to help the Government plan its transition to a low-carbon future a just transition we've heard about. Well currently the just transition seems to involve importing very large amounts of solid energy from offshore to power Huntly rather than using the gas that is available here in New Zealand.Now the state of Victoria in Australia explored this concept of a just transition. They put a moratorium on gas exploration and with the information they collected over the three years of the moratorium they decided to lift the moratorium and go back to gas exploration just last week. So in fact you know while I don't believe in unicorns I have seen rainbows and there is a possibility that with this information—not this Government but a future Government with ACT sitting on the Government benches would in fact use this information to demonstrate the benefits of offering exploration permits again to get the gas that we have in New Zealand.Now there is a lack of a regulatory risk assessment a lack of regulatory validity about what the Government has proposed here. It is another example of slogans over substance. There is nothing in this bill that will deliver more gas—having more information about the fact that the gas is running out and that Government policy directs it to run out much faster we've heard than even the Climate Change Commission would accept is reasonable. The Climate Change Commission has told the Government that they'll need gas out to 2040 or 2050. The industry and even the Government's own advisers have said that there's a risk that major users including electricity generators will not have access to sufficient gas from 2026 or 2027. That is a very significant risk that having more information about the lack of gas won't help this Government solve. In fact it's more likely that businesses that rely on gas rely on affordable energy actually choose to leave New Zealand and take their high-paid jobs with them.The average salary in Taranaki is almost double what it is elsewhere in New Zealand and that is because of the energy industry that underpins those high-paid jobs and those communities where even if the workers haven't finished high school or gone to university or obtained a doctorate in some esoteric subject like the Government members have they can still earn an extremely high-paid job. We know that many of the doctors on the other side of the House do practise medicine well although some of them have appeared to have adopted a Cuban approach to medicine.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Can I ask the member to come back to the bill.SIMON COURT: Thank you Madam Speaker. We think they've also adopted a Cuban approach to energy policy. The ACT Party prides itself on doing our research on identifying better public policy options to deal with real problems. We pride ourselves on finding a nuanced and informed understanding of how to solve problems and actually make New Zealanders' lives better. This bill does not do that. That is why ACT would repeal the ban on gas exploration set achievable and affordable climate targets match our climate targets to those of our top five trading partners and protect New Zealand jobs from carbon leakage.There is nothing about this bill that would help New Zealanders in their day-to-day lives. It is simply a regulatory grab and an extension of the Government's powers into the board rooms and into the financial databases of commercial companies. ACT opposes this bill.