McNair Craig: Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
McNair Craig: Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:623;Page:18596] 
CRAIG McNAIR (NZ First) 
: 
 In speaking to Part 1 of the Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill I will read an excerpt from the commentary on the bill: “… as oil prices are at high levels the Minister of Customs”—who is in the chair—“proposed that we amend the bill to allow for the excise duty increase to come into force on a later date by Order in Council to allow the implementation of the increase to be delayed.” My question to the Minister in the chair Rick Barker is this: does he honestly think the average New Zealander will accept an explanation like that? It is the biggest load of hogwash I have ever heard. I want to say to this Government—I wanted to say it to that Minister but he has sadly just left the chair—that it is a disgrace. 
The average New Zealander out on the street will not believe it. This Government thinks the average New Zealander is dumb. That is what it thinks. But we on this side of the House know that New Zealanders are not dumb. As the New Zealand First spokesperson as a New Zealand First member I say that this Government will realise come the 2005 election—which is only 6 or 7 months away depending on when the Prime Minister wants to call it—that the people of New Zealand are not dumb. 
This Government wants not only to put up petrol tax again but to toll the Albany to Puhoi realignment which is the State highway in the Rodney electorate where I come from. This Government says it needs even more money. Not only will it keep taxing us to the hilt on income and through other taxes like petrol tax but it says it will toll it will tax us through GST and it will tax us every way we turn. Every way we turn we will be taxed. This Government always tells itself: “Just a little bit more and it will be enough.” But the fact is that for this Government it will never be enough because it will constantly be throwing its money into pet projects like the arts like the hip-hop tours that John Key mentioned. There will never ever be enough. 
Delaying the 5 percent rise in petrol tax until after the election is manipulative deceptive disgraceful and morally wrong. But this Government does not care about morals or whether something is wrong. We have seen that. It cares about whether it can collect money; that is all this Government cares about. It wants to toll a State highway. It wants to tax New Zealanders again and again and again. 
Who is it taxing? It is taxing the hard-working New Zealanders who will in the upcoming election in 7 months’ time say that they have had enough. They have had enough of this Government’s social engineering they have had enough of its political correctness and they have had enough of its high taxes. The Minister was just talking about a police constable who after taxes superannuation payments and so on gets $500 a week in his or her hand and is meant to feed a family with that. Now this Government would after the election tax every motorist another 5c in every dollar. 
That is disappointing. New Zealand First says that it is not good enough constantly to try to find other areas in which to tax New Zealanders and then to spend the revenue on pet projects like hip-hop tours and other ridiculous things. New Zealand First says “Look out!”.