Horan Brendan: Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHoran Brendan: 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:10360. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRENDAN HORAN (Independent): Part 2 of the Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Billdeals with refunds and I would like for us to consider why there should be refunds and who gets the refunds. For the many New Zealanders who are watching today and also for those New Zealanders who are overseas and also other people who are watching on I would just like to go through the main drivers of petrol and diesel prices so they get an idea. One we have the cost of oil and then the refined product. Two we have the exchange rate which also affects the price of petrol and diesel; however it seems to go up quickly but when our exchange rate is high it always seems to come down very slowly at the pump. Three we have Government taxes and levies. Currently around 62c per litre is made up of this Government’s taxes and levies and that is exclusive of GST. Diesel uses the very unfair road-user charges that we saw rushed through last year. If we have a look at some of the price rises I believe in April of this year we see that unleaded 96 cost around $2.13 a litre and in May it was $2.17 a litre. We have these price rises that are separate from the taxes that this Government is putting on.What does that mean to the person in the province or actually the average ordinary person at home who is trying to feed their family? It puts extreme strain on that family because everything goes up. Food prices go up. How are the normal mums and dads who are on the minimum wage—and I might say that it is disgraceful for any person who has worked in a job for more than 2 years to be on the minimum wage—going to be able to afford the other increases that occur when petrol goes up? Perhaps we could consider giving refunds to every mother in New Zealand or every father in New Zealand for those school lunches that are going to cost more and for the food in the supermarket that is going to cost more.This week the Prime Minister stood up and instead of saying that 39000 houses would be consented in Auckland in the next 3 years he said that 39000 houses will be built. Well with the increase in taxes those houses are going to cost much more and I would make the prediction that by this time next year the average price of a house in Auckland will be $1 million not $750000. So whom do we give the refunds to? Do we give them to sports teams? One of the great things about New Zealand is the ability for our children to be able to play sport and to see New Zealand. But with these increases how are the parents of those children going to be able to afford to get them to the sports grounds? Perhaps we could give refunds to sporting teams. Perhaps we could give refunds to coaches because coaches need to get to training. They need to train the young ones.This is all part of the New Zealand psyche and one small increase has massive long-term ramifications for the average New Zealander. I would ask that this Committee consider giving refunds to sports teams to sports coaches and to parents of children because what we need to do is be fair in this country. We have a situation where farmers may get a refund and so they should or orchardists may get a refund and so they should too but we as average New Zealanders have to pay that cost at the shop front.