Chen NaisiNAISI CHEN (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. There's lots to unpack in that last speech from Todd Muller but we'll leave it at that for the time being. My generation and the zoomers have been said to have lived through many once-in-a-hundred-year events. It started off in 2020 with the pandemic then we had the Ukraine and Russia war and then we had the floods on Auckland Anniversary and we had Cyclone Gabrielle. While I acknowledge this has been causing a lot of emotional distress and a lot of mental health issues it's also actually caused a lot of stress on our strategic oil supply as well. As I look at this bill I recognise that this is a bill that's come out of this period of extraordinary time as we faced COVID-19 and the huge disruption that it had on supply chains on our shipping companies on our supply routes and on our trade routes. But also during the cyclone and the flooding we saw how emergency services needed that fuel to reach critical people and to reach those areas in regional New Zealand especially but even out the back of Auckland they needed that fuel to go out there and actually save lives. So this is a bill that's come out of that not to mention the war on Ukraine by Russia. We're trying here to minimise that disruption of war here on New Zealand's fuel supply and we know it's been a really difficult couple of years for New Zealand but also the whole entire world as well. So it is in that context that we arrive here at this bill making sure that the Fuel Industry (Improving Fuel Resilience) Amendment Bill comes to the House and I'm glad that so far we've got bipartisan support because Mr Muller is right that this is really important for New Zealand. It's resilience for the industry it's resilience for our economy and as I've said at the beginning of my speech it's also actually resilience for our National Emergency Management Agency. It's resilience for our emergency response teams it's resilience for trade and also at the same time even for some of our military and other Defence Force operations as well. So making sure that we have the right fuel supply in our nation on our shores is really important. As we will all be aware this is a whole set of measurements that has been brought here by the Hon Dr Megan Woods to make sure that we address this problem holistically. I remember during the Budget week as well we were debating the bill and making sure that the levies that we had collected as a Government could go towards making sure that fuel resilience was looked after here on our shores. So there's lots and lots of different steps that we have to take to make sure that this has a comprehensive execution to make sure that we actually get the balanced results that we do.I still remember the morning—perhaps if my memory serves me correctly it was about a year ago—when we discovered that the aviation fuel that we had for our planes especially if I remember correctly for Air New Zealand was tested to be not of spec. I think it was something about conductivity and that it was too high in conductivity. Now I'm definitely no expert in chemistry or fuel or the aviation sector but I understand that that was deemed to not be appropriate or we could not use it for the flights that morning. I remember especially in the domestic situation for the domestic flights that Air New Zealand had to—kudos to them. I think they didn't have to cancel any flights but they had to definitely start redirecting different flights into different areas to make sure that they were able to cover all of their routes. I can only imagine the stress that was put on to their team and the stress that was put into trying to manage moving New Zealanders across our country in a timely fashion without disrupting our travellers indefinitely. I am sure that some of our MPs would have been in that category as well. This bill is to make sure that those situations no longer happen. It's to make sure that the Government itself holds up some of the reserves in our own ways as well in terms of making sure that we have that adequate fuel supply but also making sure that the big fuel companies—especially the five big fuel companies that we've also enabled the Commerce Commission to do market research into. Obviously we know that there are still competition problems and I think I talked about this in the last contribution I made in the House as well. In New Zealand with a population of 5 million people often competition in big industries doesn't happen very well just because of our sheer size so sometimes Government has to intervene into the market to make sure that we have the right level of reserves. So back to the five fuel companies that we know have access to storage facilities those are BP Gull Mobil TasmanFuels and Z Energy. It's making sure that they have a combination so that between all of them there is at least 28 days of use of petrol 24 days of jet fuel and 21 days of diesel in an average month. So that's making sure that not only do we look after the aviation industry to resolve situations as I talked about with regard to Air New Zealand and making sure that even if we had a supply of fuel that was not up to spec we would still be able to travel and bring New Zealanders to the places they needed but also we've also got petrol here which obviously is for our household cars but also diesel which I know will have some industrial applications as well and users in our industries and to make sure that some of those companies that have not yet benefited from a Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund will need maybe the benefit of having that diesel supply there—or even maybe some of our farmers on their farms as well. So making sure that our economy keeps ticking along to make sure that even if we have—God forbid—another war somewhere else in the world—Simon Court: Well we will. NAISI CHEN: —that has a strong and big implication on our fuel supply—and I hear Mr Court saying that it will. Unfortunately I too agree that we will go into tumultuous times as well. Here in New Zealand on our shores we look after our economy and we look after our people to make sure that we have the right supplies to make sure that the New Zealand economy is going ahead. As I read the regulatory impact statement I also look at all of the different kinds of scenarios that officials have put together in making sure that this is a balanced policy. Like I said we've gone through a one-in-a-hundred-year pandemic and also we've gone through the severe flooding. Also in the document that the policy analysts and our officials have looked at the fact of whether or not our response is actually proportional to the likelihood of these events happening again. For instance they looked at whether a closed border event is likely to happen and they've actually rated it as an unlikely event. So touch wood and we're hoping that will never ever happen again and hoping that we'll never have to deal with another big pandemic of the scale of COVID-19 on our shores again. However even though it's unlikely we still have to make sure that there are precautions and that it is still on our risk register as a country. So making sure we have that proportionate reserve on our shores is very very important. Like I said when we look at 28 days for use of petrol 24 days for jet fuel and 21 days for diesel I reckon this is probably the right balance that our officials and our Ministers have found. However throughout the select committee process—and I join my colleagues echoing the call to come to the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee. It's a great select committee and we would really love to hear from submitters especially from the fuel industry but also from those who have a critical reliance on fuel as one of their main means of doing business and on keeping New Zealand moving and especially if you have a really big part to play in the New Zealand economy as well. We welcome you all to come to the select committee and make your voices heard and also to particularly take note—as Todd Muller has mentioned as well—in terms of that balance and whether we've got the balance right whether or not that provision is enough for your business or for your sector to keep going and to keep operating and whether or not the mechanism for which we do it by is the right one so that we can actually really benefit all of the companies that are on our front lines to make sure that this fuel goes out to the right people and so that the criteria that we introduce in this bill are actually the right ones. This is a great bill. It's a bill of its time—of our time right now—as we face more and more disruption and uncertainty in our economy and in our world. This is a bill that will make sure that New Zealand keeps on moving with our fuel industry supplying and supporting some of those critical sectors of our economy especially those in our transport sector as well and so that is why I commend this bill to the House.