Mackey Moana: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMackey Moana: General Debate[Sitting date: 08 May 2013. Volume:689;Page:9649. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MOANA MACKEY (Labour): If Mr Henare really cares about the starving children in this country he could give back the massive tax cut that he gave himself—tax cuts that overwhelmingly went to people who needed them the least. So cry me a river Mr Henare about how much the National Party cares about poor children because your record speaks otherwise.I want to talk about the incredible announcement that was made by the Labour Party over a couple weeks ago regarding New Zealand power—a real game-shifter in terms of how the electricity market will operate in New Zealand in the future. I want to know why the National Party does not want households to have cheaper power does not want businesses to have cheaper power and why it continues to defend a market that is not competitive. Does anyone in this country really believe that we have competition in our electricity market? The Minister of Energy and Resources says that he believes we do. Well I can tell you that the voters in this country do not because they are sick and tired of the rorting of the electricity system and the fact that it is the struggling New Zealand consumer who is constantly having to pick up the cost of ever-increasing power bills.We have a surplus of generation at the moment. We have flattening demand for electricity. We have a collapsed carbon price and yet every single household in this country saw its power go up on 1 April this year. The chief executive of Contact Energy indicated that further price increases were on the way. If at a time of surplus generation flattening demand and a collapsed carbon price we do not see power bills go down what will it take? I tell you what it will take. It will take a Labour-led Government to ensure that the market operates fairly for New Zealand consumers.I was astonished at the hysterical overreaction that came from the Government. It is a hysterical overreaction that has continued to this day because we still have not actually heard any kind of logical argument from Government as to why what Labour and the Greens are proposing would not work. We have not had any debate on the substance ofthe policy. All we have had is over-the-top rhetoric that this is like the Soviet Union. Well it is not actually. It is like the United States of America and I was not aware that the United States of America is now considered a communist country. This is a system that operates around the world. This is a system that will ensure that in the retail market we have innovation and increased competition—real competition.Our proposal is not to regulate the retail market as the Government is trying to claim but we will see more competition. We will see more players able to offer newer products newer options to consumers because they are not going to be shut out in the way that they are now by the four big players—the generator-retailers—in the electricity market. What that means is a reduction in power bills in the order of hundreds of dollars for the average household. It also means a reduction in power bills for businesses particularly small and medium businesses that do not have the negotiating power that some of our very big energy-using companies do.Colin King: Explaining is losing.MOANA MACKEY: “Explaining is losing.” says Colin King. Well we would like to have the debate with your Government Mr King. I can say that hysterical overreaction and misrepresentation is definitely losing Mr King and that is exactly what your Government has been doing—flat-footed over this policy because National says that New Zealanders are paying a fair price for their power bills. It does not think that in a time of recession of flattening demand and of surplus generation power bills should go down. It is quite happy to see them continue to go upwards and upwards.What did National say was the one big thing it had done? The What’s My Number campaign. Well I would like to live in the world that National members live in where they do not see the people coming through their offices every day who are lucky if they can find one power company to take them on. The idea that they have a choice of power companies given their credit histories because they cannot afford their bills is ludicrous. It shows the kind of entitled la-la land that the National Party lives in. Early payment discounts matter or work only if you can actually pay your bill Mr King. For too long in this country it has been the poorest families who have not had any benefit from any of the measures that Governments with the best of intentions have tried to put in place.Well I want to ask a simple question of the National Party. Does it think that the Labour Party was wrong in regulating lines companies? Silence. Silence. I tell you this: we regulated them because they were monopolies. If you act like a monopoly you can expect to be treated like a monopoly. If you exhibit monopolistic behaviour which is what has happened in this country then the Government should step in and regulate to ensure that New Zealand consumers and businesses are getting a fair deal and under a Labour Government they will.