David Seymour: Regulation Minister on the report recommending legalising plug-in solar power units

The Regulation Minister's hopeful solar power will be well on its way to being more accessible – pre-election.  

A report from his ministry outlines recommendations to ease New Zealand installs.  

He says it'll slash costs and approval times for smaller installations and legalise plug-in systems – which are already legal in Australia. 

David Seymour told Mike Hosking it’s a pretty affordable way for people to get into generating their own power, bringing down their bills.  

He says it’s exactly the kind of red tape we should be cutting.  

Seymour admits the systems can pose a danger but says there are too many stupid rules in this country premised on the idea that the people themselves are stupid. 

He thinks that if Australians are smart enough to manage the danger, then New Zealanders definitely are. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now there's solar Review has recommended legalizing plug in power
that allows accredited installers basically to sign off without inspection.
Changes should cut home approvals from around six hundred and
four six hundred and forty dollars and three months to
about two hundred dollars in just six days or so,
they say. David Seymore's Minister for Regulation is with us.
Good morning, God binding mate, So bring me up to speed.

(00:22):
Could you do this previously? This portable solar or not?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
No plug in solar is illegal in New Zealand right now.
The Ministry for Regulations says, look, they do it in Australia.
It's a pretty affordable way for a lot of people
to get into generating their own power, bring down their
power bills. It's exactly the kind of red tape that
we should be cutting.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
And what's different between portable solar and a portable television
or a portable kettle or anything else you plug in.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, in fairness to the people who banned it, portable
solar emits electricity, whereas anything else if you don't plug
it in, there's no electricity in it. With a portable solar,
you've got a plug that's got electricity coming out, and
yes there's a danger there, but I think we have
too many stupid rules in this country that are premised
on the idea that the people themselves are stupid. This

(01:09):
danger is there, it's obvious it needs to be managed,
but I just think if Australians are hard enough to
manage it, then New Zealanders definitely are.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Is this a little bit of regulation that you get
excited about or is this, in a broader subject a
game changer? And there are thousands of New Zealanders who
will now go solar because of this.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
It's like everything the Ministry for Regulations done. I don't
think there's any one thing that we say, gee, we're
glad we did that. But when you add it all together,
you've now got a couple of years which have unlocked
hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth that wasn't there
before because people were just banned from doing things for
silly reasons.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
While I've got you, let me ask you two random questions.
Random question number one, you comment about the Nicola Willis
thing over the weekend maternity leave and the whole thing
turned into a bitch slap. Is something going to go
wrong with you guys between now in the election where
somebody says something too far and it's all on or not.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
No, I don't believe. So I can't speak for the
other parties, but ACT is just trying to be the
most effective and consistent. I look at this week brand
New Arms Act three years in the making by Nicole McKee,
so that we can all have public safety and license
fire omonnas can be treated respectfully because they are law
abiding citizens. The Employment Leave Bill. No one believed that

(02:26):
the Holidays Act could be fixed. Brook vne Valden's done that.
Two massive laws that pass through this week. There'll be
a lot of other people that want to try and
get attention and make lots of noise. But from an
ACT Party perspective, we just want to actually leave New
Zealand a better place, and we can point to substantial
examples of doing that, even just in this week.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Explain the IPSOCE mood poll this morning. To me, how
is it that labor is so good at everything?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
I think people are voting on the conditions that they
see out there. The conditions that people see are largely
caused by the economic management that labour put on us.
High inflation led to high interest rates, led to an
economic recession. And yes, people have been doing it tough
for a long time and then they look at well,
who's been in power for the last three years. It

(03:10):
must be them. So I would say that it's a
confusion and an understandable one over the lag time of policies.
What I know being an Associate Finance Minister and seeing
the numbers every week is that if those guys get
back in, they will do the same thing again because
they don't actually have a plan to pay for their
very numerous promises and expensive promises, and will be back

(03:34):
where we started. And that's why I'm campaigning asking people
to give their party vote to act not only to
lock labor out, but to ensure that we don't get
a labor light in their place.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
All right, appreciate you, Ti'm happy. Good weekend. Minister for Regulation,
David Seymour. We have do we get to the bottom
of the IPSOS weel they're calling it feel a lot
of you asking whether or not it's an opt in
survey chat gbtcays yes. But further investigation by Sam has
come up with the word fieldwork, whatever that means. So

(04:06):
we don't know whether that's you know, I mean, I
can't explain it.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio