Electricity Outage, Auckland—Report

Given that it is over a month since the blackout affected Auckland, can he tell the House whether those crucial lines have been inspected?

Steve Chadwick Link to this

Yes, and those who assess the Government’s response on transmission issues will contrast the prompt, practical, and open steps that the Government has taken since those events, with Dr Smith’s blatant misrepresentation last sitting week when he said, and I quote from Hansard“in the last 7 years not 1 kilometre of new transmission wire has been constructed, despite a 20 percent increase in power usage;”, in the very same month that he was proudly standing next to a transmission tower in the Transpower monthly magazine, where an extra wire was being strung.

What has the Minister done to advance the implementation of the recommendations in the Connell Wagner report?

As the House already knows, the report was commissioned by me and immediately upon its receipt I supplied a copy of it to Transpower, together with a letter from me that I have also released, which highlights the four short-term remedial steps I think should be taken, and are highlighted by Connell Wagner. I am expecting a response from Transpower by this Friday, which is my deadline.

Does the Minister agree that Transpower erred in putting so much management time into complex lease-back tax deals with the grid, rather than focusing on its core function of ensuring that it was properly maintained; if so, why has his Government made a policy decision to encourage State-owned enterprises to do more deals outside their core functions?

No, I do not agree with that. I actually think Transpower did the country a favour, and has saved New Zealand power consumers and taxpayers many millions of dollars as a consequence, but that is no reason for the poor maintenance procedures that have been shown with regard to the Ōtāhuhu site.

Does the Minister agree with the statement in today’s Dominion Post by industry veteran Mr Govind Saha: “The New Zealand energy sector has no leadership and the electricity reforms have failed to deliver on their goals,”, and: “We have lost our way in the last six years … We are playing the game but we don’t have a captain.”, and does the Minister accept responsibility for that indictment on his Government’s energy policy?

I certainly accept that the Bradford reforms in the late 1990s were deeply flawed and that we have some way to go to fix all the defects that were left, but we are making progress.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I made it plain to the House that the comments I was quoting were in today’s Dominion Post—not in 1989—and the quotes referred to the last 6 years, and under my maths that takes us back to the year 2000. I seek for the Minister to answer the question and not simply try to hide it away by talking about who might have been in Government 8 years ago, which is well outside the quote that I gave.

I am happy to respond to that, because the point the quote made was that the reforms had not worked—and I agree.

Does the Minister agree with this statement made by Roy Hemmingway on TV3 last night that on 19 June—only a week after the Auckland blackout—“We were caught a bit flatfooted. We did not have the generation available to meet that specific couple of hours because plants in New Plymouth, Huntly, Roxburgh, and Manapōuri were out.”, and what steps will the Minister take to ensure that the Electricity Commission is not caught flatfooted yet again?

I would say that when Mr Hemmingway said “we” he was not referring to the Electricity Commission; he was referring to the New Zealand electricity system. I agree that on that night, when we did have record demand—we had the highest demand ever recorded in New Zealand—we coped, but only just. One of the reasons it was “only just” was that some of the plants that should have been—

People’s lights got turned out. There were blackouts that night.

People’s lights did not go out in Auckland as a consequence of—

It was in the Bay of Plenty.

No, not as a consequence of there being inadequate generation on the night—no, they did not. But I do agree that we only just coped. The reason we only just coped was that some generating plant that one would expect to have been made available was not. I also agree that that again undermines one’s confidence in the current policy settings.

Mallard Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this

I seek leave to table today’s Dominion Post—

No.

Order!

I can understand that member is a bit edgy, because he was the previous Minister of Energy with responsibility for the policy settings that the current Minister has just criticised.

Would the House please settle, and would the member please get on with his leave application.

I seek leave to table the article quoting comments made at the energy conference held in Wellington this week, where this Government’s energy reforms were damned and it was said that we had completely lost our way in the last 6 years.

Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection.

I seek leave to table Transpower’s June newsletter, which has a very nice photo of Dr Smith inspecting progress on the new line between Blenheim and Stoke.

Leave is sought to table that—

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I just want to have clarification of the page the Minister wants to table. Can he confirm that that is an existing line between Stoke and Nelson, not a new line?

No, I cannot. I can confirm—[ Interruption]

So we can hear the answer, as we have sought a clarification, would members please be quiet.

I can confirm that it was one of two projects on that page, including a 123 kilometre line, where an additional line was put—

There’s no new line.

Oh, it is not a new line? A new line is not a new line—well, that is a new line!

Brown Peter Brown Link to this

Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection.

Is the Minister aware—and if he is not, will he inquire—as to how many shackles, bolts, or what have you, have been found to be condemned since the Ōtāhuhu mishap, and if it is a significant number, does he share the view that perhaps the best service the Government could do is to have the lines and what have you inspected by an independent organisation, as occurs, for example, in the maritime industry?