Auchinvole Chris: Energy Safety Review Bill — Second Reading 
Auchinvole Chris: Energy Safety Review Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:635;Page:6600] 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
: 
 It is with pleasure that I rise to speak in support of the second reading of the Energy Safety Review Bill. This is a significant bill and it has been a very useful introduction for me during my first term of Parliament to the process of select committees. The bill seeks in its purpose to assure the public that electrical workers are competent to undertake the work of electricians and that electricity and gas supply systems do not put the public at significant risk. This is a bill that affects every single household in New Zealand and every single householder. 
I guess in talking about risk it is worth reflecting on personal experience. During my career with the dairy industry we moved around New Zealand a little bit as I was posted from place to place. When we bought a property it was usually a lower-priced property and we always had the wiring checked and every single time we had to have the place rewired. In one of the houses in particular a previous owner had done the wiring himself and the electrician we engaged described the load factors. It was an absolute horror story of what could have happened if we had used more appliances than the system would have coped with. We could easily have had a fire in the roof. It is a very significant aspect of energy safety that houses and industrial sites are properly wired. 
The bill as introduced contained parts relating to the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Regulations. It is significant to mention that because the Commerce Committee had to divide those parts from the bill to give proper effect to the concentration required for the various skills. It was a substantial work and I think the select committee demonstrated a real commitment to having legislation that worked. I along with my colleagues from National was a little surprised to find considerable acrimony being expressed by groups of submitters towards the changes imposed by the bill. It was almost as if the very people who were supposed to benefit from the legislation viewed it antagonistically. So we listened carefully to them. 
We then found that it was almost as if the Hon Harry Duynhoven the Minister responsible was expecting the select committee to do his work for him. There seemed to have been no consultation with the industry in putting the bill together—none at all. There had been no consultation with the tradespeople—master plumbers gasfitters or drainlayers. Electricians were equally upset. It seems as if the Minister simply sat around the table with his officials and drafted up what they considered to be an appropriate bill without reference to the people who would be carrying out the work. It is a bill that is full of compliance issues for the tradespeople. He brought it to Parliament where he then expected the select committee to accept what had been dished up. 
I will always recall the groups of sincere and extremely concerned master tradesmen who came before the committee. Their concerns extended well beyond their personal interest. They had their industries and their trades at heart. I will always remember the phone calls that I had from people back on the West Coast who were equally concerned about the bill as it affected their trades. I shall never forget meeting a plumber who with some considerable pride explained that he was a fourth-generation master plumber and was deeply hurt by the aspects of the bill that would take away that creditable reputation and tradition that his family had pursued. 
The initial bill sought to remove the registration of plumbers electricians and other trades. and I never quite understood why but the Government sought to do that. National strongly argued the importance of keeping those registrations so parts of the bill were changed. It was a major win for all the relevant tradesmen. It is very easy sitting in the isolation of Parliament especially in the pleasurable surroundings of a select committee to forget the reality of the world outside. Plumbers have extended our quality of life considerably more than the medical services have. If we did not have good plumbing and if we did not have safe electricity that would certainly be a major blow to the quality of life. 
Turning back to the positive aspects of the bill having been a little bit critical of the way it was presented to the select committee I can honestly say looking across at my colleagues who were part of the whole team that there was a genuine desire on everybody’s part to come up with the best possible result. So we worked hard for that. The purpose of the bill was to assure the public that electrical workers are competent to undertake the work that electricity and gas supply systems do not put the public at significant risk. 
The bill improves procedures for addressing complaints against workers and enhances enforcement provisions. This is particularly important. When we reflect on the goodness knows how many millions of dollars of problems that have been the result of the kinds of issues that have led to the leaky building debacle in the building sector we certainly would not want regulations that allowed that kind of thing to happen in the electricity and gas sector. So there are improved procedures for addressing complaints against people and the enforcement provisions are enhanced. 
The bill broadens obligations to notify authorities of accidents caused by or involving or affecting electricity or its generation conversion transformation conveyance or use. It was interesting to note during the discussion on the bill the various considerations that had to be taken into account. I well remember one of the gasfitters explaining that a gas fitting was not necessarily a gas fitting until such time as it was connected. In other words the people who came before us had some concerns that the gas fittings or articles that were going to be powered by gas could be installed by people who were not qualified only then to be connected having been installed incorrectly. So we had to make sure that the legislation covered those circumstances beyond just connecting so that installation was covered as well. 
The bill provides for the obligation of electricity-system owners to implement a safety-management system and this is a particularly important aspect. The bill restricts people from doing or assisting with prescribed electrical work unless that person is licensed but it does provide for exemptions from this. It is a significant thing. I understand that with some plumbing work one can work towards installation then have it checked through by a qualified plumber or drainlayer but in relation to electricity the bill restricts people from simply assisting. It allows for different classes of licences and associated licensing standards lasting for up to 2 years. This was a significant part of the bill as far as the tradespeople were concerned. The bill provides for the licensing of employers for up to 5 years to ensure their employees are licensed and supervised. Supervision is a significant aspect of the whole bill and it establishes importantly a register of electrical workers that is publicly available. 
It allows for complaints to be made by any person. People do not have to accept work that is done to an unsatisfactory level and think they have to put up with it. Another aspect that I think that every member of the select committee was impressed by was the care and concern—the sort of overview—that master tradesmen have towards their work. They take their work far more seriously than just being a commercial operation. It is singularly important to plumbers that everything is done right and to electricians that everything is done correctly particularly from a safety point of view. 
National opposed the first reading of the bill due to the insufficient consultation with plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers and the appropriation of standards setting. We objected also to a lack of assessment of additional costs and impact on availability of skilled tradespeople. Finally it has been a pleasure to be associated with this fairly major Energy Safety Review Bill. On behalf of the National team I am confident to say that we are proud of its production we think it will do the job and we are pleased to have stood by the tradespeople involved in it.