Young Jonathan: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYoung Jonathan: General Debate[Sitting date: 15 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:9952. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): I would like to just commend my colleague David Bennett for a great speech. I looked across the House and saw Kevin Hague and he smiled more than once and I think he agreed with that speech. Then I looked across to that side of the House and saw David Cunliffe smile more than once and I think he agreed with that speech because he knows his day will yet come.He knows that Labour is desperate and he knows that the Greens are gleeful and that we are seeing Labour’s desperation to find traction with the New Zealand public. We see that it is making Labour vulnerable to the Greens’ ultra-socialistic policies.Labour over there believes that it can enhance competitive power pricing by becoming the monopolistic buyer of wholesale electricity in the country. It will not be a free market any more; it will be constrained with generators and retailers brought to their knees and Labour loves it. It is a daft idea and we welcome all Labour’s daft ideas because it just goes to prove to New Zealand how sensible and how solid the National-led Government really is. Colin Espiner no friend of the Government calls this “Third World funny-money stuff.” Nationalising electricity has been likened by theNew Zealand Heraldto a 1930s command economy solution not unlike what Soviet Russia would employ. These comments are from people out there who are commentators; they are not people who are taking political sides.We know that Shane Jones is a political survivor but Shane this is one big dead rat that you have to swallow. We have always thought that you were smarter than the rest of them but it is sad to see you trying to convince yourself that this is good policy. Shane this is just the beginning of the dance and there are lots of rats coming. This is the classic “rearranging the deckchairs on theTitanic” policy of the Labour Party—lower power prices and a reduced dividend to Government. Labour will have to jack up and rearrange taxes to compensate. Its power policy requires a taxation increase that is similar to the reduction in electricity bills. Will Labour lift taxes? You have got it. This is the dark cloud in its silver lining. It is redistribution of wealth—it is plain to see. Labour would fund the Government’s loss of dividend revenue with increased taxation from the growth sector of the economy. That is what it is going to do.Expect company tax to increase. Expect capital gains tax to come into play. Businesses and farms will be paying more through the nose. Expect the marginal tax rates to increase especially for the top half of earners. Expect emissions trading scheme increases. Labour will strip the private sector of capital through excessive taxation and obstructive regulation and by necessity the Government will become the bailout investor in the electricity infrastructure simply because at reduced rates of revenue generators will not develop new generation assets. We know that. The revenue from those assets will not cover the costs of building them so it is going to be the Government that is going to bail them out. And guess what everybody? That means higher taxes. The final responsibility of security of supply will fall on the Government.You would have thought that David Parker understood this after the debacle in 2008 when as the Minister of Energy he was calling for 15 percent cuts in electricity consumption. Back then theNew Zealand Herald criticised the planning and management of electricity supply describing it as a maze to get through. This is the cartoon by Mr Body. Right there in the middle there is the maze—there is the maze of the Labour Government’s management of electricity. The scary thing is that you will go into that maze and you will find Trevor Mallard in there. You will find Phil Goff in there. You will find David Parker in there and David Shearer in there. That is the frightening thing. And they are all lost.What we need to acknowledge is that 2008 was the second-driest year in the last 81 years. It was a drought time for New Zealand. [Interruption] It was a tough time David. But what many people do not know is that the single driest year in the last 81 years was last year 2012 and no one knew about it. Congratulations Mr Brownlee on your 2010 electricity reforms. You took us through a very difficult time. National has got the policies that will lead this country; Labour and the Greens continue to have daft ideas.