Salesa JennyThird ReadingHon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): I move That the Road User Charges (Temporary RUC Reduction Scheme) Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a third time. This bill is an important priority for the Government. At the beginning of 2023 the Prime Minister made it very clear in his opening address to this House—only this week—that the Government will be relentlessly focused on the challenges that New Zealanders face in respect of cost of living pressures in 2023. We have a broad programme to address those measures which go to direct supports to households our ongoing work to build better wages our policies to ensure that we have a more competitive supermarket industry and this policy now which for over approximately one year now has saved New Zealanders nearly $1 billion in energy costs. By the time this policy is extended as a result of this bill $1.3 billion of household costs will have been avoided by the reductions to fuel excise duty road-user charges and half-price public transport. That is one of the most meaningful policies that any Government has delivered in recent times to reduce costs to New Zealand households in a very practical way. I do hear and I've heard it tonight a lot of noise about cost of living from a range of commentators. Well it's OK to talk about those things and acknowledge them; those pressures on New Zealand households are real but what people actually need are practical measures that put more dollars in the pockets of householders in the wake of these challenges. Simeon Brown: Like tax relief.Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I'll just repeat for the benefit of—oh like tax cuts Mr Brown pipes up. I don't know whether that would be the $2 per week tax cuts that his party has proposed for minimum wage earners or the massive tax cuts that his party has proposed for the highest-income earners in New Zealand. That might be the position of his party; our party is focused on the needs of low and middle income Kiwis who are having a tough time. And in respect of this policy we can be very specific about the benefits that flow through to householders. For a household with a car with a 60-litre tank $17 is saved every time that tank is filled up. For those who benefit from the associated half-price public transport policy who might take two journeys a day to get to and from work—potentially up to $25 a week. So these are practical policies. They don't take away all of the additional costs; we acknowledge that. But they do make a meaningful difference and I'm actually yet to hear practical policies in response that would make a bigger difference. What is more with this policy it is one that we're able to extend quickly and easily through this process to enable that benefit to extend through for a further period. And so I think it is a very important part of that relentless focus that our Government has on bread and butter issues on cost of living. There is one other issue that I do wish to address and I acknowledge my colleagues from the Green Party in the House here who have indicated they will not be supporting this piece of legislation. It was one of those interesting nights where we did have an alliance of the Green Party and the ACT Party linking arms and possibly opposing this policy for slightly different reasons. It is sometimes interesting the alignments we get in this House. The Green Party I acknowledge do not support this policy from a point of principle. It is not one I fully agree with but I acknowledge the point of principle which is that they are concerned that any policy which lowers the cost of fuel has the potential to create more vehicle kilometres travelled and more carbon emissions. To a small extent that is true and the modelling of this policy does show a small impact in terms of greater vehicle kilometres travelled and therefore carbon dioxide emissions. The impact is relatively small in the Government's view as compared to the cost of living benefit that we can provide. So the impact for example doesn't meet the threshold for a climate implications of policy assessment which is the threshold that Cabinet sets for a full assessment of carbon impact. So it's there it's real but it's not large and we believe that given the cost of living pressures it is appropriate to proceed. I do also note that we balanced this policy up very specifically with the half-price public transport policy which is part of that broader cost of living package which has supported more Kiwis to re-engage with public transport. And we continue to roll out more policies across public transport safe walking and cycling to give people those choices to move around their towns and their communities in a lower-carbon way coupled of course with the extraordinary progress that we're making in electrifying the New Zealand fleet. We're now one of the top markets in the world after Scandinavia for sales of electric vehicles thanks to the Clean Car Discount. So I acknowledge the point from the Greens I understand their position but I just provide assurance that we continue to work across the programme to reduce our emissions which is so important as we reflect on the climate change - induced extreme weather events that have caused so much devastation to our country in recent weeks. I will conclude my comments by noting once again that this policy is a practical way in which the Government is following through on its commitment to be focused on cost of living. I do welcome the support from the other side of the House for the legislation. Some of the speeches have been somewhat awkward in that for eight or nine minutes they've tried to criticise the Government for the policy and then said Yes but we'll support it." I think that's because most people here including in the National Party recognise that it is important to address these cost of living issues. This is a good policy to do it. It makes a practical difference. It'll help Kiwis and there's more on the way from this Labour Government which stands by working New Zealanders in 2023. I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to."