9. Question No. 9—Energy and ResourcesSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura) to the Minister of Energy and ResourcesQuestion No. 9—Energy and Resources9. STUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura) to the Minister of Energy and Resources: Does she agree with the Prime Minister that the tone of the Government's campaign suggesting New Zealanders take shorter showers is a bit off"; if so does she think spending $2.8 million on that campaign is acceptable during a cost of living crisis?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): Yes I agree with the Prime Minister. As I said last week the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) are reviewing the material of their regular energy efficiency campaign to make sure the tone is right particularly during a cost of living crisis. While it is EECA's job to provide information to the public about energy efficiency and it does that on a regular basis I acknowledge that releasing the campaign on the same day as the official cash rate was poorly timed. I note that this energy efficiency campaign happens regularly and the Energy Spot goes back to 2009 when it was launched by the previous National Government by then energy Minister Gerry Brownlee.Stuart Smith: Is she aware that when former Minister of Energy and Resources the Hon Gerry Brownlee ran an energy saving campaign inflation was as low as 1.7 percent and can she confirm that when she announced the "Finding Money in Weird Places" campaign inflation was at a staggering 6.7 percent?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: What I can confirm is that in 2009 when the Energy Spot campaign was launched of course this was the year that New Zealand went into recession for the first time in a decade in the wake of the global financial crisis and GDP fell by 4.3 percent in that year. But I've always thought that Gerry Brownlee and I agree on most things and when it comes to times when households are finding it tough there can actually be some merit in our agency which is tasked with educating people on how it is they can save money on their power bills—we are giving just that information on how to save money on power bills.Stuart Smith: How much money will the average household save by having a shorter shower and is that more or less than the extra $760 that New Zealanders are forking out in mortgage repayments over the last two years?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: As the member has probably seen households can save up to $500 across all of the tips that are there. But I do notice—I hold this example from 2009 headed "Getting out of hot water" where there was advice for people to reduce their shower time in a household of three—that each minute you add to your shower is about $70 a year. It also told people to wash their clothes in cold water fix dripping hot taps and to check the shower floor. The information that was released is very much a continuation of the information that was pioneered by that innovator Gerry Brownlee in his time as the Minister of energy.Stuart Smith: Does she seriously think that the solution to solving this country's prolonged cost of living crisis is to lecture New Zealanders about having shorter showers and using their slow cooker more?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: In 2023 the advice that was issued was for people to change the washing machine settings to cold water to save up to about $50 a year. I think this was a little less prescriptive than 2012 when the National Government told people to save energy by using cold water to wash their clothes and other lightly soiled loads. Our Government does not take a position on how soiled people's washing is. I seek leave to table this example from the 2009 Energy-wise campaign. It is not publicly available. I had to reach deep into the archives of EECA to retrieve this information.Nicola Willis: Point of order Mr Speaker. Obviously we can't table things that are already publicly available. I'm wondering if that like the Minister's brochure was sent to 600000 people in full colour at taxpayer expense?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Speaking to the point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: Yeah—no you're not! And that wasn't a point of order either. We'll just call that one all and leave it there."