Collins Judith: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCollins Judith: Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 10 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:1341. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura):What a delight to be able to speak on this bill. I have to say it is so nice to follow a member Fletcher Tabuteau who has been speaking about why Ministers should not take responsibility and yet I have heard today in the House members on the other side constantly berating my colleagues because they were in fact allowing their ministries to take proper responsibility and not overriding them. But I just thought that was quite stunning.This bill is all about putting the cost of our stockholding treaty obligations for oil on to the people who are using the oil. That actually seems to me to be a pretty sensible thing. Many people have no idea that our biggest export to Australia in terms of value by the way is oil. The second biggest is gold. So for those on the other side who do not know about these things we have long been an exporting nation of these rich mineral lands.Having said that we also import our oil that we use in New Zealand because that is the standard of oil that our refinery is able to take. The sort of oil that we take out of Taranaki for instance that goes off overseas is a different quality of oil. Apparently it is very very high-quality oil and it is too high for our oil refinery. So when we listen to people talk about how we should boycott oil and we should stop doing this with oil the fact is that it is a huge part of our economy now. What this bill very sensibly does is give the Minister the power to put the costs where they should be where they should lie.Chris Hipkins: What about Whale Oil?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: One of the things that some of us are old enough to remember is carless days. I know that Mr Hipkins—he is very vocal; he has been allowed out to play—does not remember that because he was not born then. But I am not jealous of the fact he was not born then. I know he was probably a twinkle in someone’s eye. But I remember that. I am sure that the Assistant Speaker remembers carless days. I am sure many people can remember those days. That is what happened when we became victims of the—Chris Hipkins: Before the car?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Mr Hipkins wonders whether or not there were cars then. There were then yes. I think one of the things that we need to do is to always be aware that even though we are major exporter of oil in terms of our economy we are also a big importer of oil. It is really impossible for us to ignore the fact that as a small nation we need to be able to have access to oil. We know what happened last time in the 1970s when we went through these problems. The fact is that this is a sensible bill that enables the costs to lie where they should.Can I also just in conclusion—because it is such a fabulous bill that we want to get this through its second reading; such a fabulous bill—Chris Hipkins: Once more with a straight face.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Such a fabulous bill Mr Hipkins—he is actually a lovely young man and he will make someone a lovely son one day. I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas. And might I say I confess that I am going to have a glass or two of something on New Year’s Eve because frankly I have had enough of this year and I am looking forward to a fabulous 2015. I wish everyone well please drive safely and all come back again. Thank you.