Hughes Gareth: Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHughes Gareth: Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 16 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10319. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. Surprisingly I rise to support this bill—the only bill the Green Party will be supporting under urgency—the Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill. The interesting thing about this bill is that it is quite possibly the only bill that actually is Budget-related as part of this tranche of Budget urgency this Parliament is considering on Saturday morning.I rise to support this bill but I want to note the strong reservations the Green Party has because although we agree we should have increased transport funding and we think increasing the petrol excise levy is a good signal that is going to help give the Government money to help spend on the right solutions the problem is that what we are not going to see is the right solutions being picked by this Government. What we are going to see is this money being spent on more low-value motorways. In terms of cars they are often described as a dog or a lemon. What we see under this Government is a whole bunch of motorway projects that are both dogs and lemons because they do not even make economic sense—not even to the Government’s own analysis. What we know is that the so-called roads of national significance did not go through any Treasury analysis. They were an election pledge—election bribe. Despite all the expert analysis despite the independent consultant saying that some of these projects had a woeful negative benefit-cost ratio the Government is still ploughing ahead and you can see that head-in-the-sand approach in the regulatory impact statement that says that the objectives of keeping the roads of national significance should be kept.What we are seeing with this legislation is fuel excise taxes going up by 3c over the next 3 years—a 9c increase over 3 years—to carry the declining National Land Transport Fund. I feel sorry for the Minister of Transport Gerry Brownlee because what has happened is that the original minister Steven Joyce had a $20 billion NationalLand Transport Fund which he allocated through theGovernment Policy Statement on Land Transport Funding. He had the pleasure of going around the country talking about launching motorways starting the ball rolling and what he has left Gerry Brownlee with is a dog and a lemon because what he has left him with is not enough money to finish the job. The cupboard is bare because of the $12 billion this Government is wasting on uneconomic motorways which do not even have a strong business case.The Green Party supports spending on infrastructure investment. The Green Party even supports borrowing for infrastructure investment when there is a good business case. But these seven so-called roads of national significance do not even have a strong business case. What we see is the National Land Transport Fund down over $1.6 billion over the next 5 years so now Gerry Brownlee has to go and put nearly $1 billion in extra borrowing on the credit card for these motorways of National Party significance. The problem is of course that over the last 5 years what we have seen is petrol prices up we have seen road volumes down and we have seen public transport patronage growing spectacularly yet the Government still does not give Kiwis options to get around. All it is offering is motorways to get out of Wellington faster and motorways to get north of Auckland faster. There is not that critical investment in our cities where our prosperity and our economic development options are going to be. There is no money in the Budget despite some speculation on The Standard blog that the Government would launch a funding announcement for the central business district rail loop in Auckland. There is no funding for light rail for Wellington. There is no funding for our cities. It is just for the roads of National Party significance roads of trucking significance because trucking is the real beneficiary of these motorways—roads of trucking significance!What we see is bad policy set by the Government and a Minister who has got no money left in the cupboard because Steven Joyce has spent it all. So Gerry Brownlee now has to run off to Parliament to raise the taxes and put it on the credit card but the problem is we are still going to be stuck with these seven motorways. There is a better way and that is what the Green Party is advocating for which is investing in smart transport and a balanced approach. If we actually had a balanced approach to the transport budget there would still be money for the roads. There would still be money for road safety upgrades which we know are being delayed as a result of all the money being poured into these seven roads of National Party significance. We could be spending money on roads. We could be spending money on road safety. We could be spending more money on road policing. All these budget lines have been raided by both Steven Joyce and Gerry Brownlee to pour into these political roads.I think New Zealanders want a smarter option. That is what all the polls are indicating. They want to a central business district rail link for Auckland. They want to have funding powers and regional autonomy to make some of these decisions. They want better buses better trains better walking and cycling and that is what the Green Party is going to keep advocating for. Kia ora.