Brownlee Gerry: General Debates 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debates 
[Volume:607;Page:4424] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (NZ National—Ilam) 
: 
 It is quite clear that it would take the subtlety of several bricks to let that Minister know that there is an energy crisis in this country. It is hard to believe that the Minister of Energy has just stood up in Parliament and wasted 5 minutes talking a load of nonsense when industries in this country are shutting down by the day because he has his eye off the job. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to know whether it is appropriate to refer to a member in this House as a load of nonsense. I know it is not my job to look after the “Leader of the Opposition” but that is just not appropriate. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: It is a vigorous debate as the general debate generally tends to be. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I assume that time has just come off my speaking time. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No it has not come off the member’s time. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Accordingly I seek leave to start again. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member is free to seek leave. Is there any objection— 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: No Mr Speaker. I am sorry; I sought leave but the reality is that you are in charge of the House. You are supposed to keep order. You would know that that was a frivolous interjection on a member’s speech and I am asking you for the opportunity to start again. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: That does not come off the member’s time. Would the member please recommence his speech. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I will recommence the speech by making the point that quite clearly the Government is very sensitive about the failure of the Minister of Energy to get on top of the problem that exists for New Zealand at the moment. That man came into the House today and talked a load of nonsense while industries in this country are shutting down because they do not have the power supply to stay open. We see Pacific Steel giving away a $5 million export contract because it does not have the power to deliver the goods. We see Panpac shutting down a $1 million contract because it does not have the power to deliver the goods. We see Fletcher Construction shutting down because it does not have the power to deliver some $3 million worth of export orders from its factory. How many others throughout the country are paring back their production because they do not have a safe and secure power supply? All we get from the Minister is the excuse: “The reforms in the late 1990s are all to blame.”—4 years later! Yet this Government has not made one change to those reforms. 
The member who attempted to interject a few moments ago will be facing this winter in his Dunedin South electorate or his Dunedin North electorate or wherever he comes from. He will be seeing the faithful members of the Labour electorate committee trundling along to meetings wrapped in blankets because they will not be able to turn a heater on; with a candle stuck to their heads because they will not be able to turn a light on; and all he will be able to say is: “It’s not our fault.” All I can say to Mr Benson-Pope—that obscure member from the south—is that in 3 years his Government has done nothing to change the reforms because they are fundamentally sound. 
Right now the market is sending a message to the Government to every generator in the country that there should be more generation. That message was sent in 2001 and Mr Hodgson chose to ignore it. He did not want to know what the market was telling him. He did not want to listen to the message that was coming through loud and clear. Did he go to any of the State generators and say: “I’d like to make a note in your statement of corporate intent suggesting that you are able to build new generation and return a lower level of profit to the Government.”? Not a chance! He and Michael Cullen as shareholding Ministers stuck their hands out for the big dividends that come because the spot-market price goes so high and New Zealand businesses and New Zealanders in their homes get screwed over the electricity price. 
The electricity industry in this country is 80 percent controlled by the Government—in other words 80 percent is under the control of Helen Clark and her Ministers. They sit over there and try to say it is somebody else’s problem. It is Mr Hodgson’s problem it is Helen Clark’s problem and it is time they woke up and started to do something about it. Mr Hodgson is not prepared to spend 5 minutes in the House talking about what he might do. Why? Because he does not have a clue. 
Not only is the electricity market in trouble so is the gas market. That is not because there is a lack of supply but because the infrastructure for gas has not been expanded as well as it should have been. Why? Because the Government has not dealt with the Resource Management Act. It has not looked into the Conservation Act. It has not set any targets for the delivery of energy in this country. We are a Western nation with reasonable growth but we are looking at the prospect of going backwards because we have no active energy policy in this country. I repeat—80 percent of the electricity industry is owned by the Government and we have industry shutting down. That is what would have happened in Russia during the worst excesses of the socialist Government of that time. Do Labour members care? They do not care one jot. 
Hon John Tamihere 
: Ha ha! 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I tell Mr Tamihere that he will have cold old people in his electorate this winter. Is he going to say: “Well 4 years ago there were some changes. We didn’t know what to do about them so it is not our fault.”