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Speaker 1: Big day. Well, could be a big day for reform

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Speaker 1: of our energy sector. It came out of last year's

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Speaker 1: review when the prices went stratispheric and the gas picture

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Speaker 1: looked increasingly grow in my futures. The Contact Energy CEO

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Speaker 1: owners back with It's Mike morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Morning, Mike, how are you? If?

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Speaker 1: I'm well? Thank you. Have you been briefed on today's announcement?

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Speaker 1: Do you know what's in it?

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Speaker 2: We had a very brief pre briefing last night, but

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Speaker 2: it's embargoed to eight am this morning.

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Speaker 1: Yes, it is so so you and I both know

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Speaker 1: what's in it. Without giving too much away. Out of ten,

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Speaker 1: they're going to blow the thing up. One they're barely tinkering.

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Speaker 1: What's your number?

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Speaker 2: I think the important thing is for the industry is

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Speaker 2: that there is support for the renewable investment boom that's

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Speaker 2: already going on. No one wants to see that stop

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Speaker 2: or anyone trip over their shoe laters, and so as

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Speaker 2: long as the focus stays on continued accelerated investment, I

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Speaker 2: think that's the most important thing for both for the

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Speaker 2: country right now.

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Speaker 1: What about the role of the regulators, the EA and

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Speaker 1: the ComCom, and what they could or could not do,

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Speaker 1: and whether that makes any difference at all.

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Speaker 2: I think the important thing for the regulators is that

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Speaker 2: one they're able to do their job, but two they're

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Speaker 2: there to support the market. They're there to give confidence

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Speaker 2: to investment, and I think that's the important thing that

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Speaker 2: people need to stay focused on. What we need is

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Speaker 2: an environment where the investment can flow in and where

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Speaker 2: the stations can be built, and that means a regulator

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Speaker 2: has to be effective. It means we need a resource

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Speaker 2: consenting machine that goes a whole lot faster and is

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Speaker 2: a whole lot more supportive.

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Speaker 1: They would argue that's what they're doing currently, which has

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Speaker 1: got nothing to do with the day's announcement. Their reform

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Speaker 1: is going in your direction. Is that fair or not?

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Speaker 2: I think, look, the government has signaled good intent. The

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Speaker 2: problem is is the bureaucracy seems to have a lot

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Speaker 2: of inerture in it at the moment, and that's what

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Speaker 2: needs to get moving faster.

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Speaker 1: So are you still worried about fast track? They'll say, oh,

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Speaker 1: fast track, that's the answer you worried about fast trak?

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Speaker 2: Fast track? I think the important thing about fast track

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Speaker 2: is that it's explicitly that now supports development. Our experience

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Speaker 2: of fast track is it's not that fast, and we

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Speaker 2: would love it to go fast faster because we have

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Speaker 2: a large number of projects we'd like to get through there.

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Speaker 1: Access to capital is that a problem within the industry,

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Speaker 1: not for us.

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Speaker 2: I think investors are very excited by what they see

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Speaker 2: in the potential of New Zealand, and they they were

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Speaker 2: getting access to that capital is not a problem for us,

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Speaker 2: and I don't think it should be for others.

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Speaker 1: Which is the weird sort of thing about today's announcement.

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Speaker 1: As far as I can work out, yes, we're sure

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Speaker 1: of gas, and we can all argue about that till

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Speaker 1: we're blue in the face, but correct me if I'm wrong.

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Speaker 1: The industry is seen that the stop gap measure is coal.

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Speaker 1: Rightly or wrongly, you guys are spending your building your soul,

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Speaker 1: or you're doing your wind, you're doing your geothermal, all

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Speaker 1: or that eventually we will get there. Is that fair?

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Speaker 2: I think? Look, the investment is unprecedented. It's bigger than

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Speaker 2: the think bigger era that's going on at the moment.

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Speaker 2: The important thing is is that we don't blow up

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Speaker 2: the settings and that we support that investment going in

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Speaker 2: particularly in g therm Or, which is New Zealand's version

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Speaker 2: of nuclear energy.

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Speaker 1: Now the unions want it doesn't apply to you obviously,

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Speaker 1: but the gen tailors that are partially government owned, they

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Speaker 1: want them brought back. Any any value in having a

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Speaker 1: discussion around that.

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Speaker 2: No, that's as I said, you've got to play the

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Speaker 2: game in front of you. That's yesterday's discussion. The important

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Speaker 2: thing is it's that we do the things that support investment,

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Speaker 2: not which stops everyone on their tracks and goes, how

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Speaker 2: do we do that? All right?

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Speaker 1: Good to talk to you, Mike, appreciate it very much.

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Speaker 1: Mike Fused, chief executive officer at Contact Energy. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: felt very gliding on yesterday when the unions came out

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Speaker 1: with the let's let's buy it all back and renationalize it,

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Speaker 1: and I thought, have we learned nothing?

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