Pansy Wong
Opposition Energy Spokesperson

16 February 2000

Energy efficiency legislation gets Nats support

The Green Party’s energy efficiency legislation has got the backing of the National Party, Opposition Energy spokesperson Pansy Wong said today.

The Energy Efficiency Bill is being reported back from the select committee to Parliament.

“A lot of work was done on the original bill during the select committee deliberations, and in conjunction with the previous Energy Minister.

“National is a strong supporter of EECA – the statutory Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. The development of a national strategy and standards for achieving energy efficiency is also a big step forward.

“The measures in the bill have the potential to be an extremely important addition to New Zealand’s effort to reduce the impact of climate change and National will back it.

“We had real reservations about the constitutional questions relating to the relationship between ECCA and the Minister in the original legislation. These have now been fixed and National is firmly behind the changes in the Bill.”

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