Boscawen John: Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Boscawen John: Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
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JOHN BOSCAWEN (ACT) 
: 
 It is pleasing to rise to an ovation from the Labour Party. It seems to me that three issues have been discussed over and over again in the debate on the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill and we have just heard about them. We have heard about democracy we have heard about water and we have heard about regulatory impact statements and reports on bills. As Dr Norman reminded us this is a third reading debate a debate in which to go back and reflect on the whole of the issues that have been raised over the last 24 hours with regard to this bill. Time and time again we have heard from members on the other side of the House that this bill is about democracy: the suspension of democracy and the outlawing of democracy. 
When the House resumed at 7 p.m. this evening Dr Russel Norman talked about ACT and National introducing a bill to abolish democracy in Canterbury. That is what he said ACT and National were doing: they were abolishing democracy in Canterbury. As the member sat down he said this is a bill to get rid of democracy and to strip 400000 to 500000 people of their rights. Well Dr Norman and his colleagues are the last people who should be speaking about democracy in this House. 
Phil Twyford 
: You’re the only one. 
JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: No I am not the only one but Mr Twyford’s party certainly cannot speak about democracy. However I suspect that Mr Twyford could speak about democracy because he was not part of the sordid sorry parliamentary Labour Party that governed this country from 2005 to 2008. That Labour Government saw the introduction of the Electoral Finance Bill. 
If members are to criticise the ACT Party and National with regard to this bill on the issue of democracy then I think we need to go back and reflect on the record of the previous Labour Government over the preceding 3 years. That Labour Government introduced a bill that told all New Zealanders that if they wanted to spend so much as a single dollar—a single dollar—on speaking out either in support or against the Government then they must as a minimum sign a piece of paper in front of a justice of the peace stating for instance: “I Phil Twyford promise not to spend more than $5000.” 
Phil Twyford 
: So how do you feel about this bill John? 
JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: I say to Mr Twyford that if one could not sign that piece of paper one was required to register as a third party. 
The Labour Government and the Green Party which was in cahoots with Labour told the people of New Zealand that if they wanted to speak out or to criticise their Government and wanted to spend more than a single dollar on doing so at the very minimum they had to sign a piece of paper in front of a justice of the peace. They said to New Zealanders that if they did not like that they should rise up and protest. That Government said if people did not like that they could make a submission to the Justice and Electoral Committee to tell the Government what they thought because that was its plan. I cannot think of a more despicable action for any political party to bring into this Parliament. 
We heard from Lianne Dalziel this afternoon. She got up and said she had been in Parliament for some 20 years and had never seen anything as dramatic as a bill such as this one. Well I cannot think of anything worse than saying to New Zealanders that if they wanted to rise up and speak out against the Government and if they wanted to put as little as a single piece of paper through a xerox machine in order to make that statement they had to sign a piece of paper in front of a justice of the peace. 
I will move on to the issue of water. Water is very valuable and we know how important it is to conserve water. But this country of ours has much potential. It has much potential and we wonder why we are not as wealthy as our neighbours across the Tasman in Australia are. The reason is that we have not governed this country properly. We have not realised its potential. We have not put in place the policies to create the prosperity that this country can create. This Environment Canterbury bill goes part of the way towards that because we have a rural economy. We depend for our exports our livelihoods to a large part on the farming sector. The Prime Minister the Hon John Key said recently that Australia might have its minerals but that once they have been dug up they are gone. What we have is water. Water comes from the skies and long after Australia has dug up the last of its mineral wealth the rain will continue to fall on New Zealand. 
We can do a lot to harness the power and the value that is in that water. Currently we harness only some 1.5 percent of the rainwater that falls on New Zealand. Can members imagine the prosperity that would come to this country if we could just double that—just double that from 1.5 percent to 3 percent? If we could catch and utilise just 3 percent of the water that falls on this country we could put that water to great use. We could put it to use in agriculture. We heard the allegations this afternoon from the Green Party about the fact that the Minister of Agriculture is a farmer. Well I say farmers work very hard and they are the backbone of this economy. But we can do something else with water: we can generate electricity with it. 
The water in the Canterbury basin and the Canterbury region will become a lot more valuable on 1 July. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: It makes you wet. 
JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: I find it fascinating to stand and speak while being shouted at and abused. I will go silent so that I can hear what Mr Jones has to say. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: I described you as being wet—a drip. 
JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: It is more than a drip I tell Mr Jones; it is a flow and the water that flows down the Waitaki River generates wealth. It generates wealth for our farmers. It allows our farmers to irrigate our farms and it allows us to generate electricity. 
But the tragedy with regard to harnessing water is that from 1 July this country will go where no other country has gone before. We are introducing an emissions trading scheme and its effect will be to raise the price of electricity by 5 percent. Treasury told the Finance and Expenditure Committee— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The emissions trading scheme has nothing to do with this bill and I ask the member to focus in please on the third reading. This debate is about what has been discussed earlier and the emissions trading scheme is not part of that. 
JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. My understanding is that what is being discussed in this bill is the introduction of commissioners in the Canterbury region to administer among other things a water plan—a plan to manage the resources of the Canterbury region. Water is a very valuable resource. It results in power generation and I was trying to explain to the House that come 1 July when electricity prices are forecast to go up the companies that generate electricity with water—and in particular I am referring to Meridian Energy and the dams it has in the South Island—by virtue of the way that the electricity market works will be able to push through a 5 percent increase in the price of electricity without paying for any emissions which their competitors like Genesis Power will have to do with regard to thermal energy. 
We will see windfall profits. We know the profits that Meridian is currently making but we have seen nothing yet like the profits that it will make because from 1 July we are essentially introducing a 5 percent surcharge on water. That will see massive windfall profits being taken and a massive value being put on water. Every single New Zealander will pay for that. I am very proud but sad to think that I am one of only five MPs who are standing up and opposing a 5 percent surcharge being imposed on the cost of electricity from 1 July—a surcharge that will go on every single New Zealander young or old poor or well off. The elderly particularly in the winter will have to pay more for their electricity simply so that companies like Meridian can earn more for its water that valuable water. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I have mentioned to the member that this is a debate about what is happening with regard to Environment Canterbury and it is not a debate about Meridian electricity price increases or whatever might be affected from 1 July. I ask the member who has 40 seconds remaining to focus in on the bill. 
JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The reason I am conducting the debate in the way that I am is that as you say this bill is about Environment Canterbury—the regional council—the appointment of commissioners and water. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Well if the member had mentioned that that would have been fine. But I say to the member we have had about 8 minutes of other things and I did warn the member earlier on. I ask the member to come back to the bill; he now has 39 seconds remaining. 
JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. This is I repeat about Environment Canterbury. It is about the appointment of commissioners including Dame Margaret Bazley who will be taking a lead role. She and her fellow commissioners will have the job of putting in place a water management plan for the Canterbury region which is something that Environment Canterbury has not been able to do in the last 18 years—18 years. This Government has been required to make these changes in order to put in place that plan to provide for the better use and conservation of our water resources so that we can use more water wisely. As I have said from 1 July that water will become even more valuable. Thank you.