Brownlee Gerry: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
Brownlee Gerry: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
[Volume:639;Page:9747] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) 
: 
 Might I first express my condolences to the Muliaga family for what has been a most tragic death for them in circumstances that—it would appear on the face of it—most New Zealanders are not comfortable with at all. I further say that it is somewhat difficult when we know what the family is going through and will go through for many many months and possibly years ahead to discuss this issue in the way that it perhaps should be discussed. 
But the reality we are faced with is that the Prime Minister of New Zealand stepped into this argument and made some extremely strong statements about her view on this particular matter and what she expected to have happen. Despite the fact that her Minister had been somewhat cautious she went out and said that heads will roll and someone will be publicly accountable. Today the police have decided not to charge anybody in connection with this incident. So where are the heads that are to roll? 
The Prime Minister also said that the law would be altered and that State-owned enterprises would be given a pretty hard message by way of a legislative change to ensure that this kind of incident never happens again. Yet yesterday the Government backed way off that and reverted to the voluntary code situation that existed prior to this incident. The question then arises of who is to be held accountable for the voluntary code in the case of Mercury Energy not being followed—not being picked up or exercised. I think it should be sheeted home directly to the board of Mighty River Power which is the parent company of Mercury Energy. Why has the Prime Minister—who is after all the shareholders’ prime representative—not called that board in for some discussion? Why was it OK for her to go to the family to share in the occasion of their greatest grief and quite frankly to grandstand off the back of this issue but then do nothing? Nothing has been done. If members read through the press releases from the Government yesterday they will see that there is nothing there that was not there before. 
The chair of Mighty River has made a public apology. Good. Why has the chair not been brought in and asked why she and her board were derelict in their responsibilities under the State-Owned Enterprises Act? That Act states—plain as day in black and white— “An organisation that exhibits a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community which it operates and by endeavouring to accommodate or encourage these when able to do so.” That seems pretty clear to me. We know that guidelines were put out by the Electricity Commission as to how these situations were to be dealt with. But in this case they were not followed. 
 So why do we have a Prime Minister saying that this is terrible that heads will roll that she is right alongside the family—she has had her photograph taken with them and she has made the tough statements—but then she does nothing? She has not even called in the board to ask a question about it. She has not even called in the board to ask it those simple questions. 
We know that other companies are doing the right thing. No less a person than the Minister for Social Development and Employment has suggested this afternoon that Meridian Energy’s practice in Christchurch is a good example. I think it is. Nine social agencies are working with Meridian Energy to ensure that when people get into difficulties any assistance available gets to them. 
The other interesting argument that was run this afternoon was that we might be able to separate out blocks of electricity for sale under special conditions and special provisions to those who effectively are the vulnerable in our community. But that denies the fact that one of the problems we have in this country at the moment is a scarcity of electrical energy. Any look at the demand on our system any look at the peaks in demand that are there at the moment tells the person looking why there are high electricity prices in this country. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Why? 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: It is interesting that the Green Party is suggesting that we might adopt this practice when in many ways the Green Party is part of the problem. I tell Mr Parekura Horomia that over the last 7 years we have not seen the sort of investment in electricity generation in this country that we should have seen. We should in particular have had far more investment in renewable energy. But we have not had it because project after project has been knocked over. 
Jill Pettis 
: “Your power prices will not go up.”—that’s what Max Bradford said. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: What did Max do Gerry? 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Members on the other side scream out that it is the system—the system put in place some time ago—that is the problem. Well after 8 years of a Labour Government I ask why it has not changed. It has not changed because fundamentally it works. What is wrong with it is the fact that every time a generation project comes up for consideration in this country it has to go through such a big hoop of Resource Management Act compliances and other such exercises—including stopping off at the office of the Minister of Conservation—that not one project of any considerable size has been given consent. There is all this hot air about wind power but we find that even wind power projects are getting knocked over. 
Well while there is scarcity of supply there will be rising prices. This afternoon we heard the figure of 18 percent in real terms in 7 years but I can tell the House that the figure is much higher—much higher. In some districts it is up to 40 percent in real terms and that is a lot of money for struggling families to find. 
I heard the Minister for Social Development and Employment say: “Well look what we have done through family support.” This family was a working family and I would like to know whether it was getting the $256 a week in family support that it should have been getting. Well no one seems to know. The Prime Minister has not bothered investigating that and the Minister himself could not tell us that here today. So this wonderful Government which is so caring and concerned about people in this sort of plight talks the talk but does not walk the walk. 
Jill Pettis 
: Oh right tell us in 2 minutes what you’d do. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Well I can tell this House that the next National Government will ensure that there is a substantial amount of new generation investment in this country the next National Government will ensure that New Zealanders have rising incomes through work rather than welfare and the next National Government will not excuse itself from the responsibilities it has in this sort of situation by simply raising spurious arguments about how well it has done in social welfare policy in this country. 
These people are in grief and it is not fair that we talk too much about their situation. It is not fair that we use their family situation to any great political extent. That is why I have to say I am very dark on what the Prime Minister did last week. I think it was cynical manipulation. I want to make it very clear that it was not the National Party that brought this issue to the floor of Parliament today; it was the Green Party. I do not think that discussing personal tragedies in the way that is happening here is particularly useful in any event. I certainly do not think the Prime Minister deciding to grandstand on the back of this family’s tragedy then doing nothing is acceptable. That is what this Government has done. It has talked about it it has got the photographs but it has done nothing.