Sowry Roger: Wellington Regional Council (Water Board Functions) Bill — In Committee 
Sowry Roger: Wellington Regional Council (Water Board Functions) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:623;Page:18927] 
Hon ROGER SOWRY (National) 
: 
 I know that with this bill the Minister Marian Hobbs is not acting in a ministerial capacity as such but if she wants to sort out the issue of not having to come back and waste Parliament’s time with this sort of legislation on a regular basis I suggest that the Government could start by opposing the new clause in Part 1 that effectively states that only renewable energy installations may be built on that land. I do not think that that would do any harm at all to be honest. Will we find a large coalfield under Wellington Regional Council land? The Minister has the mapping—it has all been done—and the answer is no so let us not worry about that. Will we find a large gasfield under Wellington Regional Council land? The answer is probably not as well. But could we find a gasfield out to sea from the Wairarapa coast? The answer is yes we could. I am sure that the Minister’s colleague the Minister of Energy has fingers toes and all sorts of parts of his body crossed in hoping for a gas find out there. 
Why would we not then want to bring that gas on and allow it to be converted into electricity on regional council land? I cannot think of one reason why we would not allow that. The whole station would be about the size of a small Woolworths store—not very big. It would be very unobtrusive. 
Of course by the provisions of this bill the council will not be able to do that on its land so we will be back in Parliament with another bill that will state that the council can process gas because there has been a big gas find. So why do we not allow that situation to occur now? It is one way in which the Minister could live up to her wish to solve the problem of having those little local bills come through all the time. 
The inserted clause which states the provision applies to renewable energy only is silly. It reflects the sort of path that the Greens forced the Government down with regard to lines companies and their power generation. That clause does not make sense in this day and age at all and I appeal to the Minister to remove it. In fact the clause was not in the original bill; it has been inserted by the Local Government and Environment Committee and I think that the select committee has made a mistake. I encourage the Minister to take some time maybe seek a bit of advice and then say that we should pass the bill without that clause. The bill would still meet the Wellington Regional Council’s requirements and it would give the council an option of doing that generation on Wellington Regional Council land. 
I say to the Minister that there is a rig drilling in the sea off the Wairarapa coast at the moment and there would not be a member in the Chamber who hoped that that drilling was not successful. So it would just make it a lot easier for everybody and quite frankly I am sure that Wellington regional ratepayers would welcome a cut of the slice if energy were able to be generated on their land. 
It would also make sense in relation to other land owned by the council. A lot of that land is old water board land. We would find that there were bits and pieces of that land by the port and God knows where—throughout the Hutt Valley and all around the place. It makes sense that we should be able to put cogeneration plants and all sorts of things on that land. 
The regional council did not ask for the renewable energy clause. I know that the select committee inserted it unanimously. In my view that is a mistake and National supports the removal of that clause.