Lee MelissaMELISSA LEE (National): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to rise to speak on this bill and I must signal that I am standing to oppose this bill together with my National Party colleagues who spoke so passionately before me. I have to say that I may not have the technical expertise that the two speakers who spoke before me have because they have been involved in this particular area for quite some time.But I would like to start off with a response to Mr Fletcher Tabuteau who actually used some words that I found quite interesting. He talked about hysteria on the side he talked about how infuriated he was at listening to us and he was talking about how frightening things were for him. I guess I want to start with how infuriated he should be at his colleagues. This particular legislation comes about because—actually it was about the timing of the Prime Minister's first trip overseas. It was policy on the hoof like the one that she actually made about the regional fuel tax. She said that as long as she is the Prime Minister there won't be another one and when we asked Minister Shane Jones about when he'd first heard about it he said When the Prime Minister stood up."This particular policy about the decimation of Taranaki and the industry was one of those. It was one of those policies that the Prime Minister together with two other leaders of the party that she is in coalition with made without the consultation of the Cabinet or the advice of the officials who should be the experts that the Prime Minister and the Ministers and the Cabinet should turn to.I am totally totally floored by the decision that this Government has actually made. This is going to cost—as my learned colleague to the left of me Todd Muller said—4000 real jobs and 11000 jobs that are affected as a result of those jobs being impacted in a region that is going to be decimated. Taranaki as a whole industry is going to be decimated—the townspeople the city is impacted by this terrible decision that this Government has made. I am actually quite disgusted by the process—actually the lack of process—that this Government has carried on on this particular bill. What was the urgency that the select committee only had four weeks to manage this bill to return it to this Chamber and that the industries that have invested millions of dollars only had two weeks to respond to make submissions to this particular bill? And then when they did in fact turn up to the select committee they only had 15 minutes to submit to it and some of them didn't even get that time either.I was very interested to think about how much this $7.9 billion—the loss in revenue that this particular bill is costing. That is actually in the regulatory impact statement: $7.9 billion in lost revenue and potentially up to $23.5 billion—not million; billion. And $7.9 billion will actually pay for quite a lot of things as you could imagine: the Auckland light rail that you know cost $1.8 billion; the Waterview tunnel that the National Government delivered only cost $1.4 billion; Transmission Gully is only going cost $850 million; the brand new Dunedin Hospital only costs $1.2 billion; KiwiBuild is only $2 billion; Christchurch Stadium is only half a billion dollars.I sort of thought what else could $7.9 billion deliver for New Zealanders? I mean up and down the country this Government has seen unprecedented strikes from industries and teachers and Government officials are even striking. I mean this $7.9 billion in lost revenue could potentially deliver 316000 hip replacement surgeries—316000 hip replacement surgeries. It could actually deliver two more Auckland harbour bridges. That would be fantastic I'm sure for connecting the north and south. The average salary of 130000 police officers—it could actually deliver 130000 extra police officers with $7.9 billion. That would be 37000 extra neurosurgeons that we could actually afford and it could also mean a home for every homeless person in Auckland—$7.9 billion can actually deliver that. Yet this Government makes a policy a unilateral decision without consultation and they say—and I'd like to quote the Minister actually. The Minister said this was actually about long-term management. I am baffled. I am actually unsure what she means—long-term management by this Government. Do they actually think that the long-term management that this Government is delivering for the people of Taranaki and the industry is loss of jobs loss of revenue and loss of opportunities for New Zealanders who actually rely on this?One of the most interesting facts I found—and many members have talked about renewable energy. I don't think there is anyone in this Chamber who will disagree that we need to move there but it needs to have a clear plan it needs to have clear signals and it needs to have clear consultation before a policy is designed discussed debated and implemented—not to unilaterally decide that it's going to look good for the Prime Minister when she goes to the UN to say "Hey New Zealand's actually going down this way." so that it's great for the media press conferences and what have you. There is a lack of process and I am appalled by that.One of the things that the Minister Megan Woods actually said in her speech was that the future will look different than today. I am in agreement with that on one point: it certainly will look different. There'll be 4000 less people with a job and perhaps up to 11000 people who will suffer as a result of this decision. Talking about renewable energy I would like to share with the members in the House that it actually takes 270 tonnes of steel to make a wind turbine—270 tonnes of steel to make a wind turbine. Do members know how much coal it actually takes to create that tonnage of steel? It actually takes 300 tonnes of coal to make the steel that is required for a single turbine. It is not as green as some members have actually quoted.Another thing that the Minister has actually said is—and I quote—"We are a Government that listens then acts. That consults widely thinks through issues deeply and seeks to forge consensus in how we can take New Zealand forward together." I say to the Minister: bah humbug! That is utter rubbish and they have shown by their lack of action that they are not true to their words. It is only words. You can see it in their actions: no consultations; they haven't listened. There are industries that are actually really really concerned. There are constituents who are really really concerned. All of Taranaki and all of New Zealand is really concerned and this Government is interested in rushing this through.I am appalled by their action. They claim to be the most open and most transparent Government that this country has ever seen. I say that's utter rubbish."