Auchinvole Chris: Energy Safety Review Bill — In Committee 
Auchinvole Chris: Energy Safety Review Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:635;Page:6664] 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
: 
 I rise to join my colleague Phil Heatley in speaking to support the Energy Safety Review Bill. Part 1 explains the significance of the purpose and it is I would suggest extraordinarily important. It affects not just the 38333 electrical workers in this country or the 20099 registered electricians but every household every business premise and indeed anywhere that benefits from the provision of light and power supplied by electricity—as long as of course the generation and transmission systems are still extant. The bill is about the assurance that members of the public can have that the electrical workers are competent to undertake work that electricity and gas supply systems provide and that they do not put people at significant risk. 
In speaking to Part 1 of this bill I feel it is significant to spend a little time to reflect on new section 1A. Part 1 clearly states that the bill is amending the principal Act the Electricity Act of 1992. The reason why this all came about is contained in the initial commentary but in essence it was to align the regulations governing electricity workers to those of gasfitters and it also incorporates plumbing and drainlaying in turn because the regulations cross-refer from time to time. So that Act needed changing. The present Government tried to do it all in one hit. Frankly it did not really work and we had speakers covering the detail of that last week so I will not go over the ground again. 
But I am delighted to say that the Commerce Committee was a wonderful committee to be part of. National had to I think come to the rescue of the bill and of the industries involved. One could say that we largely saved the day and no doubt my parliamentary colleagues from the other side will graciously confirm that when they speak to the bill as well. I am sure they will. It was a bill on which everyone worked hard with their shoulders to the wheel. 
The bill seeks to provide the public and individual members of the public with an assurance of safety in matters electrical. That this is necessary is borne out by the experience of anybody who has been obliged to move around the country a bit in pursuit of their career. In my own case I have had a number of shifts and on each occasion bought a house that needed what real estate agents call “TLC” or tender loving care. In every case when we moved in after we had fixed the foundations and re-roofed we found that there were electrical faults and we had the house rewired. It is an expensive business. 
In one house that we had and I am not suggesting that it was done within legislation of any sort the previous owner had clearly done the wiring himself. The electrician we engaged explained the consequences of the cowboy operation that had been performed. He demonstrated that the system was unable to cope with the amount of electricity being drawn through it and that the result was that the old-fashioned fuses would have blown frequently. He then said: “I’ll show you what they do then.” We moved to the fuse box. He removed the fuses and showed the thickness of the wires that had been used to replace the original frequently failed wire. I am not suggesting it was number eight but gosh it was not much narrower than No. 12 or No. 14 gauge. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Ha! 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE 
: It really was Harry it really was! The consequence the electrician explained was that we could easily have had a wiring failure in the wall cavities or the ceiling cavities which would have caused a fire with disastrous consequences; it was an old kauri house. 
I agree of course that for an unqualified person to wire a house was no more legal then than it is now but it did happen. How vulnerable the public are when that sort of thing occurs. I was extraordinarily grateful and continue to be grateful to the dedication of skilled tradespeople who ensure that everything is done in a safe way. Electricity is a service and a skill that cannot be other than best practice.