Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker—
Chris Hipkins: Here comes a speech on the ETS.
JOHN BOSCAWEN: I will speak on this bill. I had not been intending to speak, but I mentioned to that member’s colleague David Shearer that the speech he gave earlier this evening gave me the inspiration to speak on this bill, the Carter Observatory Act Repeal Bill.
Hon Member: I don’t believe it.
JOHN BOSCAWEN: That is right; Mr Shearer gave me the inspiration to rise to my feet to speak on the Carter Observatory Act Repeal Bill.
It was interesting that Mr Allan Peachey, my local MP, castigated Mr Shearer. He made the point—and I thought quite fairly—that the Labour Government had been in power for 9 years, so of course it had had a lot of time to address some of the issues that Mr Shearer raised. But having said that Mr Peachey had been critical of Mr Shearer’s speech, I have to say that I thought Mr Shearer raised some very good points—points just recently picked up by Sue Kedgley. Mr Shearer talked about the budget for research and development, and Labour’s Fast Forward Fund. He talked about the Government’s commitment to put an extra $56 million a year into science and technology, and he talked about the cost of running an observatory.
Well, I am sure that this has not missed the attention of any member of Parliament, but in the last 24 hours two power retailers have announced increases to the price of electricity as a consequence of the emissions trading scheme from 1 July. As a consequence, Mr Shearer’s points were very well made. Electricity will cost more, and every individual, every business, every entity in the country will pay more for their electricity, and it will cost more to run the Carter Observatory. As Sue Kedgley said, we have to be concerned about falling budgets, so I guess that this is an own goal. Certainly the announcement that was made yesterday by Mercury Energy to put up the price of electricity by 3.3 percent is essentially a hidden profit for the Government. So I guess it is an ill wind that blows no good.
There are the Government’s three main generators, including Mighty River Power, which generates electricity on the Waikato River. It does not make any carbon emissions, so it does not incur any emissions cost as a consequence of its generation of electricity on the Waikato River. However, it has said that it will increase the wholesale price of electricity because Genesis Energy will pay for those emissions and will force up the wholesale price. As a consequence, Mercury Energy can go out to its customers, try to keep a straight face, and say “Look, we’re going to be incurring a higher wholesale price for the cost of electricity, and we’re going to pass it on to you.” Of course, that simply results in a windfall gain for the Government.
I find it very interesting that the figure the Government put up for the revenue it will earn from the emissions trading scheme is $350 million, and that it ignores those same hidden profits—those windfall profits. As owner of Mighty River Power—
Sue Kedgley: Come on, back to the bill.
JOHN BOSCAWEN: I am addressing the issue that Miss Kedgley raised. She was concerned about the budget and the cost of operating the Carter Observatory, and the investment in science and technology. The member can laugh, but I am making the point that electricity is going up from 1 July. All New Zealanders, all institutions, all museums, and all observatories, will pay for that.
Sue Kedgley: What’s that got to do with the Carter Observatory?
JOHN BOSCAWEN: I note that Mr Shearer devoted a large part of his speech to the cost of operating observatories and scientific institutions, and that member did the same. I am making the point that we incur costs to run these things. In the last 24 hours Mercury Energy announced that it will increase the price of electricity by 3.3 percent, and Contact Energy announced that it will increase the price of electricity by 3.2 percent. It is all very well for the Minister for Climate Change Issues to say that that is great news because we had forecasted electricity to go up by 5 percent but it is only going up by 3.3 percent. I say to the Minister that there are 12 more months in this financial year, and I am sure by that time we would have had the 5 percent increase.
Hon Dr Nick Smith: You’re a climate change believer now? You’ve changed your tune again.
JOHN BOSCAWEN: The Minister of Research, Science and Technology told me that one of the things the scientists at the Carter Observatory follow is the so-called Milankovitch Cycles, which Dr Smith might understand a bit about. Dr Mapp told me that the people who believe in those cycles put them as an alternative hypothesis for the changes in global temperature that we have observed. The Assistant Speaker has been very generous and I think I have made my point. The ACT Party will be supporting this bill. Thank you.