Shirley Ken: Energy Safety Review Bill — First Reading 
Shirley Ken: Energy Safety Review Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:627;Page:21802] 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (ACT) 
: 
 We have here a classic response from this Government to regulate and legislate. That is the only language it seems to know. Here are 181 pages of regulation for poor hard-working plumbers gasfitters drainlayers and electrical workers. That is unbelievable. I think we can actually refer to this bill as the “NCEA of Energy and Other Trades”. That is exactly what it is all about—the NCEA from this Labour Government applied to energy plumbing gasfitting and drainlaying. 
The very fact that Mr Duynhoven oversaw it should ring some alarm bells. I am told that he did. He should be ashamed of himself for bringing this bill to the House. I am not sure whether he ran it by his caucus because there are probably even some members on that side who do not feel totally comfortable with it. I would be surprised if there were not one or two who did not feel totally comfortable with it because this is all about more regulation from nanny State. 
The last Labour member who spoke likened it to the response to the leaky building syndrome. That is the excuse that this Government throws up for everything it wants to regulate. We need more regulation because of the leaky home syndrome. We have already seen the nonsense of the Building Act which this Government has imposed on the people of New Zealand. Now do-it-yourself Kiwi home renovators dare not even put on their leather aprons and tool kits because in essence they will be breaking the law as soon as they touch anything. This Government has closed down the New Zealand homeowner’s long tradition of do-it-yourself. Many do-it-yourselfers do a splendid job but no they will be knocked out by this Government. Now we see that extending that into all manner of other activities. 
There is no established need for this legislation. We have tremendous plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers in this country. We have good sanitary standards. How many problems do we actually have? Members should talk to local governments around the country. We have an inspectorate system. People need permits for such things. What we have now is working fine. We are legislating for that 1 percent exception who will have 181 pages of draconian regulation thrown at them. 
We have already heard from National Party speakers who have consulted gasfitters plumbers and drainlayers in their electorates. Those tradespeople do not want this. They do not want a bar of it. They know that they are good tradespeople. They know that they can do their jobs. But oh no nanny State under the Labour Government supported by United Future will bring this sort of legislation to the House. 
Who pays for it? The consumer and taxpayer. The ACT party was actually formed from the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers because we represent consumers and taxpayers in this country. That is what ACT stood for when we first formed as a ginger group. We formed to fight this form of excessive imposition on New Zealanders through excessive regulation and costs. And where do the taxpayers come into it? What we will have is an army of bureaucrats and inspectors overseeing these sorts of regulations and that will be paid for by the taxpayer. Again the whole of New Zealand society suffers and labours under this sort of legislation and I stress the word “labours” because it is weighing this country down. We have far too much regulation of this nature and this ilk. 
The ACT party will be opposing it. We will be standing alongside the National Party opposing this legislation. It is bad legislation. It should not even go to a select committee. There is no need for it and no one from the Government benches has established a need for it. I challenge the next Government speaker to stand up and give us a reason for this heavy-handed regulation. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: It’s called the EnergySafe programme. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: We have just heard from the Minister. He is now telling us he has a jargon name for it. What is the name? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: It is the EnergySafe programme which we’ve been working on for years. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: If this is about energy safety why is it hitting all the plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: It’s about energy safety and for years the industry has been doing the preliminary work on this. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: What do plumbers and drainlayers have to do with energy? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: What is gas if not energy? It’s about energy safety. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: He buys the jargon. That is the trouble: he sits in his big fat ministerial office and drives around in cars with padded leather seats. I see his ministerial car waiting for him at 10 o’clock every night—whoosh he is off into the night in his chauffeur-driven car! Well I have news for him. That is coming to an end. I say to Mr Duynhoven and all other Ministers on that side of the House that their days are numbered. They have only a few weeks left in those ministerial cars. 
It is because of nonsense like this legislation that the public of New Zealand is saying overwhelmingly that it has had enough and it wants a change. There is that stench of a Government in decay. The public of New Zealand are saying they want a change. They have had enough of this nanny State heavy-handed regulation. The ACT party will be instrumental in opposing this legislation and it will be defeated I am sure.