Sitting date: 23 Oct 2025

SPECIAL DEBATES

Energy—Issues

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members, as per the agreement of the Business Committee, we now come to a debate on energy, and this has been arranged under Standing Order 80. Would some honourable member care to move that the House take note of issues relating to energy.

Hon SIMON WATTS (Minister for Energy): I so move. Well, energy powers every part of our economy, from households to high value industries, and will increasingly determine our ability to compete in the global economy, but there is no secret that our energy system has been under pressure for some time.

New Zealand is on the cusp of a renewable electricity boom thanks to this Government. Because of our work to knock down the barriers to growth and investment, more electricity generation has been commissioned in the past 18 months than in the entirety of the last 15 years. In the future, 95 percent of electricity will come from cheap, clean renewables, but there is one major barrier that we must overcome. Our energy system needs reliable back-up options to generate electricity during our driest years when we cannot rely on hydro lakes or wind to generate sufficient electricity.

At the same time, our electricity market is not functioning as efficiently as it should be. New Zealanders need to have greater confidence that the electricity market has strong regulators and that there is competition sufficient to deliver the affordable prices we all need.

This Government will not kick the can down the road on these issues. This Government is taking action to ensure that power prices come down. We have a clear plan and strong, concrete actions already under way to address energy supply risks and to unleash renewables in order to bring down prices, to give households and businesses more control over their power bills, and importantly, to keep our economy growing.

To manage New Zealand's dry-year problem and bring down power prices, we need reliable sources that can be accessed quickly and on demand. That is why this Government has commenced procurement for an importation terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG). LNG would booster—I'm sorry. LNG would bolster our domestic—well, it would booster and bolster. It will do both.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: That's a critical definition.

Hon SIMON WATTS: Anyway, let's keep going. It will bolster our domestic natural gas market by supplying, of course, that fuel for dry years and supporting our electricity system during times of seasonal peak demand, helping to, of course, unleash more renewables as a result.

Alongside this, officials are working very hard at options for other dry-year investments. A decision on the best way forward will be made by the end of this year. The Government has also written to Genesis, Mercury, and Meridian to ensure that they know that the Crown is prepared to support capital funding requests for strategic and commercially rational investments that support energy security. This will ensure a perceived lack of access to Crown capital does not stand in the way of New Zealand's energy security.

We're also leveraging the Government's energy use, like hospitals, to help unlock new investment in different types of energy generation. Instead of using our demand to pay for generation that we already have, we're going to use it to stimulate new generation solutions to be built and increase New Zealand's total energy supply as a result.

All this work is underpinned by the progress we have made to supercharge renewable energy through our policy, Electrify New Zealand. The Electrify New Zealand programme includes a wide range of actions to support faster and cheaper consenting of energy infrastructure. It will mean more new wind, more solar, more battery, more energy storage systems, and other generation powering our homes and businesses every year.

The Huntly agreement is also an important step in securing short-term security of supply, but more needs to be done to invest in energy security and build better markets for the long term. To stop these problems from re-emerging, we need to work with industry to develop a regulatory framework to ensure power companies deliver the back-up supply that Kiwis need and deserve. We know that the electricity market must be backed by a powerful regulator. The Electricity Authority should be stronger, more effective, and have harder enforcement tools to ensure New Zealand's electricity system is reliable and delivers better outcomes for New Zealanders.

We are also carrying out a targeted package of reforms to ensure the Electricity Authority can improve market rules, stand up to pressure, and deliver change that will support security of supply, investment, and, importantly, lower prices.

At the same time, the Electricity Authority is taking action too. New rules will ensure hedge contracts are traded fairly. They will require gentailers to treat independent generators and small retailers the same as their own retail businesses. This will help enable new developers and generators to enter the market, help industrials access firm supply contracts, and ensure independent retailers can compete more fairly on an even playing field.

As distribution charges make up a quarter of Kiwis' power bills, it's important that electricity distribution businesses work as efficiently as possible to avoid passing on unnecessary costs to consumers. We'll be working with the industry to deliver greater efficiencies on how electricity distribution businesses (EDBs) operate. We're also making it easier for EDBs to invest in new generation projects.

In addition to the energy package, we're also ensuring the security of our gas and fuel supplies and diversifying New Zealand's fuel mix. Businesses are struggling to get gas contracts and are facing significant price increases compared to the historically low prices we've enjoyed in New Zealand. As a Government, we have prioritised removing barriers to viable alternatives such as biogas and biomass for firms that can and will switch away from gas, and business can also access the 2025 Investment Boost policy, a great tax policy by this Government to support fuel switching. Diversifying New Zealand's energy mix with new fuels and energy sources is an important aspect for our long-term energy security.

Yesterday, I released New Zealand's first Wood Energy Strategy and Action Plan, setting out a clear vision and objectives for the future of the wood energy sector in New Zealand and outlining current and planned work to support the strategy, including co-funding opportunities. In addition, yesterday we also released a Government statement on biogas, reaffirming the Government's commitment to the biogas market and setting out key actions that will enable its growth.

In line with that, there is a significant package of work under way across the regulatory system to make installing solar easier and cheaper and our energy use smarter. This includes updating electricity safety standards to make it easier and cheaper to install rooftop solar systems, increasing the voltage range on electricity networks to accommodate higher levels of solar electricity, and electric vehicle (EV) charging across the country. We are also introducing legislative changes to enable standards for smart energy devices, including smart EV chargers.

As you can hear, there is a significant amount of work already under way and in place and that has been delivered by this Government. We know how important energy is. We know the important role that it plays in driving economic growth and it is a fundamental input into our economy. As a country, we should and must desire to have abundant and affordable energy, and that is the opportunity in front of us and that is what we must harness and get on and build the generation that will deliver that outcome.

To conclude, I want to reassure Kiwis that this Government is undertaking comprehensive action to ensure that our energy system continues to meet New Zealand's needs into the future. We acknowledge the challenges and the difficulty around high energy prices. We have identified the problems causing that and we are now implementing the suite of actions that will resolve those problems. This is a Government of action and we are delivering.

Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour): The House has chosen to set aside an hour of its time to debate energy issues, something that says it's a serious issue for this country, something we really need to work on, hopefully, in many ways, in a bipartisan way, because there is much that we can agree on in the energy space.

What I want to do, however, is to take this debate first back to defining what some of the issues are in the energy space. When I say to think about it, I thought, well, here are the three broad areas of concern around energy in New Zealand. The first is around supply—sufficiency and certainty of supply—the second is around pricing, and the third is around climate. So let me just talk through each of those issues and why they are a particular concern for us. I'll start with supply and certainty of supply.

Of course, what has been affecting the country today does point to that in some regards. So we know that right at the moment around about 90,000 households are without power. I don't know how many businesses are without power, but, given that many households are out, so many businesses will be too. I heard there's some quite big outages in Southland. There must be some farmers there who are a bit worried about milking and how that's going to happen.

Of course, the outages today have been caused by the massive storm through the country. I'm sure that the thoughts of everyone in this House are with the people who are affected directly by the storm and with the workers who are out there trying to get the power back on—I know they'll be working hard out there. But that certainty of supply can be affected not just by storms but literally by whether there is sufficient supply, whether we can rely on the fact that walking into our lounge, our kitchen, our business and turning the switch on means that the lights go on. It's one thing for the lights to be taken out by a storm, but another if our supply isn't certain. That's something we need to do in this country.

We need to make sure our electricity supply, our energy supply, is certain. In particular, we need to think about what's called firming, making sure that our system is robust. So that's a really important thing. But businesses need to know that their supply is secure. Households need to know that their supply is secure. Hospitals need to know that their supply is secure. So supply is very important to us.

Going alongside the supply of power—just being sure that it actually will arrive when we turn on the switch—is actually the price of power. Power needs to be affordable. Energy needs to be affordable. Now, we've seen just in this last week new inflation figures have come out, and when we do the calculations, we're told that inflation in the year to 30 September has been 3 percent. If you go to the actual data issued by Stats and look at the actual index and do the calculation, the actual inflation wasn't 3 percent; it was actually 3.046875, but, of course, the rounding God smiled upon that.

But if the index had been one point higher—if the index had been 1320 instead of 1319, so, a very small difference—the inflation rate would have been 3.125 percent, outside the Reserve Bank's band. One of the things we know that is driving that inflation rate has been the price of power. In particular, in the Stats New Zealand release, the prices and deflation spokesperson said that, in actual fact, the 11.3 percent annual increase in electricity prices over the last year is the largest since the March 1989 quarter. It's a little bit hard to comprehend what's going on. So this is the graph which came out in the Stats New Zealand release. This is just this very last year, and in just this last steep incline—oh, I can deliver it to you shortly, if you like, Minister. That very, very steep incline and increase in power prices in that last year shows the increase. It was steep; it was hard. We have seen businesses closing because of that increase in power prices. We have seen jobs lost because of the increase in power prices. We have seen real hardship in households because of the increase in power prices. So not only do we need abundant power and readily available power, we need it available at a price that our businesses and our households can afford. So that is the second aspect that we need to think about when we're talking about energy.

The third is climate—the third is climate. We simply must move to renewable power—end of story. There is no choice about it. We must move to increased use of renewables such as wind and solar. We must move to increased use of geothermal power. We must ensure that we have the appropriate batteries, the reserve supply of power; and, frankly, the South Island hydro lakes that we use right at the moment for our everyday power, they are nothing but enormous batteries. Perhaps we need to start thinking of them as that and then having that reliable source of power from the South Island hydro lakes as a battery and thinking of other renewables as the regular everyday source of power.

There's another reason for going to renewables. It means that New Zealand can be independent in its power. If we are importing coal and gas from overseas, we are not independent. This is where I really disagree with part of what the Government is proposing to do in its energy strategy. If we look at the Government's energy strategy, one of the things that they have said they would do—if I can find the "at a glance"—is to set up a permanent fuel depot. Got it, got it, got it—they're going to launch a formal procurement process for a liquefied natural gas import facility, importing gas, permanently.

We actually need to transition away from gas. I mean, there's a whole rhetoric that says that it's cleaner than other forms of power, but, to be clear, it is something we need to move away from in the next decade or so. Why set up a permanent fuel facility for something that we actually need to be moving away from? So that is one area where we simply need to make a difference there, and I urge the Government to do that. Again, no matter what, using fossil fuels contributes to our greenhouse gas emissions; we need to make a difference.

So in terms of what we actually do, well, we do need an affordable, secure, clean energy source for the 21st century. We do need to get away from those fossil fuels. I see the members over there shaking their heads. But there is only one area where we may need to continue with some fossil fuels for a bit longer, and that is in supplying process energy—the sufficient level of energy for manufacturing in some of our industries. That could be a reason to maintain some of the fuels that we have for a short time until new methods of providing process of energy eventuate. There's some really interesting progress being made in that space, reported just in the last few weeks.

But, aside from that, if South Australia can have days when all their electricity is generated 100 percent renewable—if Victoria can do it, if Queensland did do it—so can we. We can do it with wind; we can do it with tides; we can do it with solar—solar, which operates in all sorts of weather. Then we need to think about how we build our reserve batteries. If we have sufficient batteries, we have sufficient reserve supply of power, then we can guarantee that secure supply.

Above all, we need to start thinking about power as a utility. We need to stop thinking about it as a commodity that must be sold at the highest possible price. We need to think of it as a utility that enables the rest of our economy. If we change our way of thinking, we can do better on energy.

SCOTT WILLIS (Green): Everyone deserves to be able to heat and power their homes without breaking the bank. And these days, that's far from a given. Regional industries, sawmills, factories, they're all closing down because of high power bills. Cheaper and cleaner power, that's what Kiwis deserve and it's all within our reach.

Prior to entering Parliament, I ran a peer-to-peer electricity network. It was a social business, and it was killed off by the power of the large electricity companies, the gentailers who control the market. There was no level playing field. Gentailers want us to be passive observers and consumers who just accept unaffordable power bills, not active participants in the energy system. It doesn't have to be that way. Kiwis want choice and Kiwis want to participate. We're fed up with those high electricity prices and the excuses that keep on coming. We seem to get nothing but excuses like the nonsense that the oil and gas ban has resulted in an energy crisis, or that burning fossil fuels is better than clean energy from wind and solar.

The future isn't with the fossils. Those who keep on proposing that are doing our country a disservice. You can smell the fumes on their breath as they gaslight us. The evidence is really clear that gas production peaked in 2001 and has been declining since 2014, four years before the oil and gas ban. Oil and gas companies have spent billions and come up with nothing—talk about chasing rainbows. The rapid decline in gas in our energy supply is significant. It demonstrates a lack of strategy or planning for our future and no one gains from the oil and gas ban fantasy that this Government repeats ad nauseam.

It's time to step up and take responsibility for an active role in planning our future. That would mean first addressing energy hardship. Over 100,000 people cannot afford to pay their bills. It's a choice between heating and eating. Now is the time to resource the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and I will support any move by the Minister to ensure Budget 2026 restores EECA's budget so that Kiwi homes can be made warmer and more energy efficient.

There's much more that can be done. Reform of the electricity market to provide confidence with stable prices and investment in renewable energy and storage are key. The Government can make a big, positive difference in the lives of Kiwi households if it could just summon the courage to take on the electricity giants and place people over profit. We need to ensure those level playing field measures are implemented because what we're seeing is something that looks like they've been watered down. My bill, the Electricity Industry (Separation of Generation and Retail Businesses) Amendment Bill would ensure this, and the Government is welcome to make use of it, because we can't be afraid to do what's right for Kiwis, even if it means uncomfortable conversations.

Households all around the motu would benefit from being able to generate their own energy, their own renewable electricity from solar and batteries; a ratepayer assistance scheme, easy to implement; our Clean Power Payment $6,000 grant $30,000 interest free loan—very, very helpful for people who want to implement solar or insulation; and integrating mobility into our energy system will also bring big benefits. We need to develop vehicle-to-grid capability where EV batteries can be used to inject stored energy back into businesses and households so that next winter vehicle-to-grid vehicles will be online when we need them, when high prices are there, when we've got stress on our energy system. Australia's got a model we can adopt. It works in the UK, why can't we do it here? The Frontier report showed how to bring the total cost of electricity to consumers down by over $2 billion per year simply by taking control of Huntly and using it strategically by pricing it separately as a system backstop.

This is one thing that we can agree with. The market hasn't and isn't delivering. Our energy system is too fundamental to everything we do to sit on our hands and do nothing. A Green Government will act.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The member's time has completed.

SIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Today, as we debate energy policy, we need to ask what matters most to Kiwis. New Zealanders don't want to hear more buzzwords and see more bumper stickers about a just transition. It's not ideology; what they want is reliability, they want affordability, and they want certainty. They want their lights to turn on when they flick the switch, they want their homes to be warm in winter, and they want their power bills to be affordable, and that's what ACT in Government is helping to deliver.

We've made massive progress by repealing Labour's ban on offshore oil and gas exploration. That cost this country billions in dollars of economic vandalism, and it pushed us to burn more imported coal. The ban told the world that New Zealand is not serious about energy investment. It was a political stunt dressed up as policy, and New Zealanders paid the price and they know who's to blame.

Now, with ACT in Government, we're restoring energy security and investor confidence. Sovereign risk is being replaced with sovereign responsibility.

Just today, I stood in support of Minister Watts' Offshore Renewable Energy Bill. That bill, improved by the select committee process, is about turning potential into projects. It lays the foundations for private capital to build offshore wind and marine energy developments with clear rules, firm timelines, and proper protections, because if we do want affordable, low-emissions electricity, we need to unleash the full mix of wind, hydro, solar, and, of course, geothermal; gas; and—yes, that trusty black nugget—coal. If we're honest with the public, they will know that we need thermal firming in the form of gas and coal so that we can continue the renewables build-out.

Now, the Greens and Labour might not agree, but I'll tell you who knows that. All of the renewable energy companies who have come to my office and, no doubt, to other members here, have said, "If we can't get a firm thermal contract to underpin our investment in renewables, we won't build the renewables." That's called physics; that's called finance.

Let me be clear: having gas and coal supporting our renewable build-out is not a failure; it's responsible planning. It's engineering reality, and not living in a political fantasy.

But energy policy isn't just about generation; it's about what gets built, how it gets built, how quickly, and where. That's why ACT in Government is leading the charge to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA) with a system based on property rights that respects environmental limits. For too long the RMA has choked off investment in energy infrastructure with red tape and runway ideology—

Scott Willis: So where's the national policy statement? In June last year—in June last year. Another broken promise, with nothing there.

SIMON COURT: —and if that member—"Switched on Scott" from the Green Party—wants to contribute further to the debate, he should take another call. But this morning, I heard him say that the solution to wind turbines in New Zealand—which need mined minerals and which need petroleum products to make the resins for the turbine blades—is wooden windmills. That's what the Green member offered this morning.

Under ACT's reforms, power stations will get built, transmission upgrades will get delivered on time, and projects that generate value for New Zealanders will get out of the courts and into construction. That's how we lower bills, that's how we restore energy security, and that's how we build a system that is fit for the future.

We're also working to make New Zealand competitive internationally. Investors can choose to build in Australia or New Zealand, or somewhere else entirely. That means that our rules must be bankable, our time frames predictable, and our institutions that govern the energy sector credible, and I commend Minister Watts for the work he's doing to reform and strengthen the regulation of the system.

Now, we're delivering all of that, not by waving a magic wand, but by doing the hard work, line by line, regulation by regulation, and project by project, that the Government is providing investment capital for. ACT is ensuring, in our role in Government, that energy remains secure, affordable, and reliable. What that means is that the lights are on, homes are warm, and we have jobs to go to. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

ANDY FOSTER (NZ First): Energy is our greatest infrastructural vulnerability, and we've had widespread calls for—and, actually, we've heard in this debate as well—for a long-term energy strategy, and I completely agree with that. Also, we're working, obviously, on a bipartisan approach to infrastructure strategy. But these things need to last beyond one Government and into another Government.

New Zealand once had a competitive advantage in cheap, abundant renewable energy, but not anymore. There are three things that we need out of energy: we need cost—for it to be affordable—we need reliability, and we need sustainability; and sometimes, those things are in conflict, especially at the margin. But I do not believe what I have heard from the Opposition. What Labour did—of those three objectives—is they went for the virtue-signalling sustainability at huge cost to affordability and security. So every time you pay your electricity bill or your gas bill and it's higher than it used to be, you can say, "Thank you, Labour!", because they contributed to that. Every time a factory closes and people lose their jobs, you can say, "Thank you, Labour!", because they contributed to that. That is what the oil and gas ban did.

People from within the industry tell me that was the greatest act of economic vandalism—economic vandalism—that this country has ever seen. And this is from a party that used to be a blue-collar party—it used to be a blue-collar party—that sabotaged Northland, closed down Marsden Point, sabotaged Taranaki—with the oil and gas ban—and it's still going: central North Island. We heard Willie Jackson earlier today talking about Gilbert Sydney and his difficulty in finding a job. Well, what happened? Kinleith. Why did Kinleith close down? Why did Winstone close down? The oil and gas ban, high energy prices—all part of the same thing. That is the effect of that captain's call that that party made in 2018, what has been described as "the most catastrophic act of economic vandalism ever seen"—this is a quote from an industry insider—"in New Zealand". That is a quote.

We lost 1,000 megawatts—1,000 megawatts—of gas-fired power stations; that is the effect of that. Pre-oil and gas ban, the price of electricity was around $75 per megawatt, and in 2024, $250 per megawatt. The industry insiders are saying if we had not had the oil and gas ban, it would have stayed at between $75 and $150 per megawatt—

Scott Willis: Have you talked to anyone in the energy sector?

ANDY FOSTER: That extra $100 - plus is the effect of that oil and gas ban, and these people on the Opposition benches do not realise it—

Scott Willis: I mean, you know that's a load of rubbish.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Mr Willis, comments not commentary.

ANDY FOSTER: In winter 2024, what kept the lights on for Kiwi homes was industry closing down. We took 20 percent of all energy use off. That was the Winstones, Kinleiths, Methanexes—all of those kinds of business. That was the effect of that, and that has directly gone to Kiwi jobs, like Gilbert Sydney, who Willie Jackson was talking about earlier today.

Oh, and, eventually, of course, unless we find some more gas, what's going to happen to roughly a million Kiwi homes that use gas at the moment? They are going to have to convert at the cost of something like $10,000 to $13,000—the current estimate per household. Those are the kinds of numbers which are coming out of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). Think of the cost of that conversion. That, again, will be "Thank you, Labour, for that!".

I visited the Glenbrook Steel Mill recently. It's a very cool, heavy industrial plant. Gosh, we haven't got too many of those left! It's great to see some products actually being made in New Zealand, and there's some good news there—

Glen Bennett: Thanks, Labour, for the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry (GIDI) Fund.

ANDY FOSTER: Oh, there is some good news, Labour! I can say well done on the electric arc furnace, because that's really good stuff. But part of it is the rolling mill, and without that rolling mill, which cost $2 billion back in the day, and it cost that much mostly because of union action—great—it's now at risk. Why is it at risk? Because it relies on gas, and, again, about 1,400 direct jobs and about 5,000 indirect jobs.

This is what we need: we need an electricity system that actually works for New Zealand. Yes, renewables, but also, we need the firming part of that, whether it's geothermal—just remember that solar energy works, effectively, at about 16 percent of capacity all the time; wind, about 46-, 47 percent; geothermal is about 98 percent, for example. Hydro could be about the same kind of level. So that firming capacity is absolutely essential.

Oh, and on geothermal, the other thing that I'd say, buried in Labour's brilliant—was it the three waters or 10 waters scheme; however many waters it was in the end—it was short consents for geothermal plants. What that meant is they would have had to reapply every 10 years—every 10 years—for a new consent. So basically, as soon as they got the first one, they'd have to start applying for the second one, which imposes on all the vagaries of the consenting process and, often, being held to ransom for those consents.

What that means is that you would not build a lot of those geothermal plants now, because you could not get, under those rules, a consent for long enough. So yes, we need a strategic approach. Yes, we need a mixed approach. And one other thing I want to say that is super critical: deep geothermal that Shane Jones is pushing, I think, is a really important thing. The one thing I do agree with the Opposition on is that we do need some firming to sit behind and underpin the whole system, and the State has a role in doing that. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

DAVID MacLEOD (National—New Plymouth): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to speak on a matter of national significance: the role of natural gas in New Zealand's energy future.

As the member for New Plymouth, I represent a region that has long been the cornerstone of our domestic energy system. Taranaki has powered this country for generations through innovation, resilience, and a deep commitment to energy security. And today, as we navigate the complex transition to a low-emissions economy, I say this, natural gas remains essential well into our future. Energy security is not just a luxury; it is a necessity. Natural gas currently provides about 20 percent of our electricity generation, particularly during peak demand and dry years. It is the firming fuel that steps in when the wind doesn't blow, the sun doesn't shine, and the lakes are low. Without it, we risk blackouts, price volatility, reduced productivity, and increased reliance on imported coal. That is not the future I think any of us want.

Let's be clear: renewables are the future, but they are not yet fully capable of meeting our baseload and peak demands on their own. Until we have more renewable generation and large-scale storage, natural gas is our insurance policy, a stabilising force in an increasingly complex energy system. Natural gas is not just about electrons and pipelines. It's about people. It's about jobs. It's about regional development.

In Taranaki alone, the gas sector supports thousands of skilled workers, from engineers and geologists to technicians and tradespeople. Nationally, it underpins industries that are vital to our economy, including food processing, steel, aluminium, glass, and many other manufacturing businesses. In fact, over 19,000 businesses rely on gas every single day. These are the businesses that employ New Zealanders, pay taxes, and contribute to our export earnings.

The Government's recent commitment to co-invest in domestic gas development is a vote of confidence in our energy sector. It sends a clear message: we are backing New Zealand - made energy. We are facing the challenge of restoring investor confidence, reducing sovereign risk, and ensuring that our energy future is built on a stable foundation. The Government is committed to our climate goals, but we must be pragmatic, not ideological, in how we get there.

Natural gas is the transitional fuel, a bridge that allows us to scale up renewables, develop green hydrogen, torrefy black pellets, and invest in carbon capture and storage. It gives us time to innovate without compromising reliability and/or affordability. Already, we are seeing progress. New Zealand's first biomethane-to-pipeline facility is in operation in Reporoa and hydrogen blending trials are under way. These are the building blocks of a cleaner future, but they must be supported by a stable present. Let us not forget: a just transition is one that leaves no region, no worker, and no industry behind. Energy policy must be grounded in certainty. It must be grounded in clarity and also collaboration. This Government has taken decisive steps. We have lifted the exploration ban. We are reforming the Crown Minerals Act, and we are working with the gas industry through the Gas Transition Plan. We are building smarter, cleaner, and a more secure energy system.

In an increasingly uncertain world, energy sovereignty matters. We cannot afford to become overly reliant on imported fuels. Domestic gas production gives us control over our energy destiny. It strengthens our resilience in the face of global shocks. Natural gas is not the enemy of progress; it is an enabler of it. It is the bridge to a future powered by renewables and innovation. Let's be clear-eyed and future focused. Let's invest in what works, while building what's next. And let's ensure that New Zealand's energy future is secure, sustainable, and sovereign. Mr Speaker, Thank you.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Before I take the next speaker, Mr MacLeod, you read that speech. Clearly, you have some good knowledge of it. I think you've been in the House long enough now to be able to, largely, leave the paper down. For the future, I'll be in the Chair watching you.

Hon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The Government promised fundamental change—"fundamental reform", I think Simon Watts' words were—for the energy sector. You have so many New Zealanders who are struggling every week to be able to afford their energy bill and you have businesses shutting down. Each month, we see another business shut down because of the cost of energy. That fundamental reform that was promised by the Minister, quite simply, did not materialise.

As well as no fundamental reform, and the disappointment that ensued, there was no actual real plan in place. I think it was Frontier Economics who was commissioned in—Frontier Economics not known for their supportiveness of renewable energy—they were asked to come in and take a look at market design and market performance. They reported back with a whole range of recommendations. So they've picked someone who they think's going to give them the answers they want, they don't give the answers that they want, and so they don't do any of it. The only things that happened was to build a container where we can buy some more natural gas at a much higher price than what we're already paying. That's not a solution.

The other solution that they've come up with is that we're just going to keep looking for some more natural gas, even though we haven't found any for—what?—20 years. Is it 20 years since we've actually discovered any? Even if we do find gas—this is a debate; I'm interested to hear the answer—in the next while, 10 years to get it online, what's going to happen between now and when you get that online? What's going to happen in that time? How many Kiwi families are going to be able to afford their power bill? How many businesses are going to close because they can't afford? There are no answers provided to that.

The next bit we saw from those reforms was we saw the Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, write a letter—another letter; she's already written to banks and supermarkets, and maybe Fonterra too, or was that just a meeting?—to the gentailers, saying that, you know, "If you want to go and build some stuff, we think that's a great idea."

After that announcement, which was nothing apart from a letter, a big tank, and a promise to keep looking, what happened was that the profits and the shared value of all of those gentailers went up several million dollars. So try and explain that to hard-working New Zealanders who can't afford to pay for their energy bills, have been told this Government is going to deliver on the cost of living crisis, and instead what they do is they serve the big end of town by making decisions that bake in those profits and drive them up even higher. So while we can't afford our bills, those companies' share prices have gone up. I don't understand how that works at all. There was a real opportunity to relieve New Zealand businesses and households with a burden of a broken energy system, and they completely dropped the ball.

Fossil fuel companies are happy. They're happy because they have their beneficiaries from these so-called reforms, but it is not doing anything in New Zealand to save jobs or create jobs. We have a Government that has once again bowed down to those vested interests and failed to deliver for New Zealanders who are counting on them. They promised big. They raised our expectations. If he had half a brain, he would have just played it down, but he said "fundamental reform." We all got our hopes up. Promised big and they let us down. It reminds us on a daily basis how out of touch this Government is. Kiwis were promised a bold energy plan with immediate action, but thanks to this coalition of absolute chaos, they've brought no plans at all but just higher bills.

I would like to hear, in this debate, some solutions, because what we heard from the last speaker, David MacLeod, who did largely read his speech, is that natural gas is our insurance policy. That was the key line we took out of that. That's their plan: hoping to find natural gas. The question I want to ask is: if the profits that are baked into those gentailers are reliant upon fossil fuels, how does the Government plan to incentivise investment in renewables? That is the question I would love to have answered and that is the question that New Zealanders would like to have answered as well.

We have an abundance of renewable energy in New Zealand, and as much as you cry "fast track" from the mountaintops, it doesn't change the fact that you failed to deliver on the cost of living and you simply rewarded the big end of town whose profits increased by your lacklustre announcement.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Ms Andersen, you were talking about me, you were marginal about your accusation, but certainly when you're accusing the Chair of it, it makes it even more dire, for future reference.

DANA KIRKPATRICK (National—East Coast): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Today, I want to talk about the small but very industrious town of Kawerau and its enormous contribution to keeping the lights on in New Zealand. Kawerau is a great place, an extraordinary little town, wonderful natural resources and a fine community, and I'm looking forward to getting back there next week—home to 7,670 people in the land of Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau.

Today, we're discussing energy, and I want to link the two together, because we're talking particularly about the work being done to double our renewable energy generation by 2050. I wanted to bring to the House's attention the massive contribution Kawerau was making to this objective— clever partnerships and a growth mindset, welcoming industrial development as part of their town. It's wonderful to see.

Above ground, Kawerau is the industrial engineering epicentre of New Zealand, home to a few mills and various other industrial operations, and a long-term, loyal workforce firing on all cylinders. But below ground is where it all becomes about the energy. The Kawerau geothermal field spans 35 square kilometres. It has fluid temperatures ranging from 250 degrees Celsius to, I think, 310 degrees Celsius. It has an estimated resource available of up to 570 megawatts. That's a phenomenal amount of energy. It currently produces enough energy for one-third of the Eastern Bay of plenty.

This is the kind of energy we need in New Zealand: sovereign energy, the kind no one can take away from us. Firm energy, sustainable and secure, that secures our supply; and clean energy, because geothermal plants produce 7 percent of the emissions of a typical coal plant. So how do we get more of it? Well, Kawerau will do it. In fact, they already are—the little town that could. Eastland Generation, a wonderful community trust-owned company from Gisborne in the wonderful Tairāwhiti, has partnered with a number of iwi-based partners, I guess, in Kawerau, including Kawerau A8D Ahu Whenua Trust and the Ngāti Tūwharetoa Geothermal Assets Organisation. They are doing an enormous amount of work. They are already producing 26 megawatts, 9 megawatts, 24 megawatts, and currently, in work right now, 49 megawatts of geothermal power in the station that's about to be commissioned in November.

In addition, you will have seen the announcement this week of the Government's Wood Energy Strategy, a fine piece of work. We are very pleased to say that this week, "Minister MegaWatts" himself announced that wood energy could replace around 40 percent of fossil fuels process heat by 2015 and displace 300,000 tonnes of coal at Huntly. This would reduce reliance of our energy system on imported fuels and domestic gas, and cut down on emissions.

Kawerau already has the solution—one step ahead, again: a torrefied wood pellet project with international company Foresta, which will see the establishment of a patented pine chemical and torrefied wood pellet facility with the capacity to produce 57,000 metric tonnes of chemicals from pine trees and 216,000 tonnes per annum of black wood pellets. Foresta has advanced orders for 80 percent of its products from the first manufacturing facility, and its plan is to produce up to 2.1 million tonnes of torrefied pellets every year, which will replace the coal intake needed. This project, along with others, typifies how we create security of energy supply, regional economic growth, emissions reduction, and reasonably priced power for homes and industry.

Because when the previous Government landed on this notion that we shouldn't have coal and gas in this country and that we should wage a war on energy infrastructure like Marsden Point, they did it with no solution in hand. The international investment community lost faith in us and they took their money elsewhere, and we were left this winter wondering where the gas would come from and what would power the heaters. It was lazy thinking and tantamount to energy thuggery.

It's an inspiring time for the Eastern Bay of Plenty, for the little town of Kawerau, and the future that they hold in their hand with geothermal energy, torrefied wood pellets, and the many other things that we can do in New Zealand that come when the rain doesn't rain, when the wind doesn't blow, and the sun doesn't shine. We've got to have some other options, and this is where it's happening. This is the beginning of it all. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

GLEN BENNETT (Labour): Kia ora, Mr. Speaker. I stand as a proud member of the Labour Party and a list MP based in Taranaki who's lived—for 25 years, actually—in the energy province. I've always been very proud that it is the energy province. It has the potential—and we were working on that potential—for it to continue to be the energy province, to be the clean energy province not only of Aotearoa but of the world.

I also stand here as Labour's tourism and hospitality spokesperson. As I get around the country and as I listen to people—as I meet with small businesses, large businesses, and regional tourism organisations—we often reflect on the picture that New Zealand paints to the world. Now, we look at Tourism New Zealand, and it's almost 25 years as well—that's the "100% Pure" New Zealand brand, which has been in the eyeballs, in the ears, in the stratosphere of the world around what to expect when they arrive in our beautiful and amazing country. I am committed as a member of the Labour Party and I'm committed as a member of this community and society, to ensure that New Zealand remains "100% Pure". We need to put a line in the sand. We need to step up and not kick the can down the road but take responsibility for how we can look to our future, how we can be good ancestors and look to our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, and those who will come after us. And say, "It was hard." And say, "It wasn't easy and we weren't popular, but we did what was right so that you have the benefits of "100% Pure" New Zealand in 100 years' time."

I stand by the work that Labour in Government did. In fact, I stand by the work that the Labour and New Zealand First Government did, when they stood up on the podium and announced the fact that there will be no more offshore permits issued. Onshore was fine, and I think we got the balance about right, because I wasn't in Parliament then but I remember all of my conservative oil and gas friends were angry at me. They were angry, because what have we done? We've destroyed everything! And then, I remember all of my Green and all of my amazing friends on the left, and environmentalists, who were angry with me because we hadn't gone far enough. I think sometimes, when you have people on both sides of the argument angry with you, maybe you're getting it just about right. You're just trying to find that middle ground to move forward.

There's a lot more for us to do, but we need to be committed to the fact that we can't just keep kicking the can down the road on energy. We can't just keep kicking the can down the road to figure it out maybe in the next Parliament, or the next generation will figure it out. We need to stand up and make a stand. I am grateful for the work that was done by the Hon Megan Woods in the energy portfolio. I'm grateful to her in terms of the investment in Ara Ake, looking at new ways of creating clean energy for the future not just here in New Zealand but around the world. I'm grateful for the work that she did on green hydrogen and what it could look like, what it could do around innovation when it comes to moving heavy freight around the country and around the world. I am grateful that we are looking down at things like people's households. We're looking at people's businesses, we're looking at factories, we're looking at hospitals, we're looking at schools, we're looking at the corner dairy, at the local bakery, and even at this building—as the lights flickered as we started this debate, earlier in the afternoon.

We need to consider how we do get our energy strategy right. What do we do to ensure that all New Zealanders have access to decent, affordable, and clean energy, so that we continue to be New Zealand "100% Pure". We can all do it, if we have the will. We can do anything we want in this Parliament, if the Government has the will—they'll find the money to do what is right to supercharge clean and cheap, affordable energy. If there was the will, they would find a way.

In closing, I think that next year's election will definitely be fought as the "electric" election. I think we need to consider the fact that the price of electricity, how we set up our grid and what we do, can and will be done. They often talk about bipartisanship or tri-partisanship, but you have to lean in, you have to have conversations with each other. We are committed to ensuring that all New Zealanders have clean, cheap, affordable energy into the future.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The time for this debate has expired. I congratulate those hardy souls who have remained to the bitter end after three long weeks of sitting. Congratulations, and make the most of your week off. The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 4 November 2025.

The House adjourned at 5.53 p.m.

© Scoop Media