Jackson Willie; Salesa JennySecond ReadingHon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister for Broadcasting and Media) on behalf of the Minister of Transport: I move that the Road User Charges (Temporary Reduction Scheme) Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a second time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Can I ask the member to just read that paragraph out. You had missed out RUC" sorry.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Sorry Madam Speaker. Where is it?ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): "Temporary RUC Reduction Scheme".Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Ah sorry. Sorry Madam Speaker. I move That the Road User Charges (Temporary RUC Reduction Scheme) Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a second time.As mentioned in the Minister's first reading speech the Government's top priority is supporting households with cost of living pressures and of course that's what our Prime Minister has been saying for the last few weeks. Bread and butter issues are the focus now for this Government and it's a message that is resonating so strongly for our Government—so strongly that it's leaving the National Party in the lurch.Fuel is an unavoidable cost for many New Zealanders. They need to get to work or to make sure their kids get to school. For some small-business owners fuel costs have a real impact on their ability to run their business. We know that many families are facing tough choices right now. For this reason we have decided to maintain the support measures we first put in place in March and April of 2022 and it's Cabinet and Government who have considered this and realised the needs of New Zealanders around the country. We know that Kiwis are suffering under a lot of the pressures in terms of the cost of living so this is absolutely being clear that we support them.The extension will run to 30 June 2023 with full rates of fuel excise duty and road-user charges resuming on 1 July 2023 keeping those measures in place in a way to provide timely and meaningful support to households and businesses across the country. The Government has already amended regulations to keep the 25c per litre reduction to fuel excise duty in place until 30 June 2023. Half-price public transport will also remain in place until 30 June 2023. We're not backing off our efforts to encourage New Zealanders to get on public transport.We know that this announcement has been well received by people right across the different political spectrum so we're pleased to see the support that has come across for this policy. The reduction to road-user charges expired on 1 February 2023. For the last three weeks those who need to purchase a road-user charges licence have been doing so at full rates. We need to amend the Road User Charges Act to bring back the reduced rates as quickly as possible.The bill is necessary to put in place a second temporary reduction period for road-user charge rates. The period will run from 1 March 2023 until 30 June 2023. During this time all legislated rates of road-user charges will be reduced by 36 percent. Setting the reduction at this level helps to ensure that we are providing equivalent support to diesel vehicle owners as we are giving to petrol vehicle owners. At this level of reduction the price of a road-user charges licence for a light diesel vehicle falls from $76 to $49. This means that the owner of a light diesel vehicle will save $27 each time they purchase a licence. The bill does include a power to extend the reduction period by Order in Council. The international economic outlook remains uncertain and unpredictable. The bill provides the Government with the ability to continue this support should the economic conditions warrant it without seeking another amendment to the Road User Charges Act.The road-user charges system is more complex than fuel excise duty. As the Minister noted in the first reading speech there are over 200 road-user charge rates and more than 80 different vehicle types. Meanwhile there's one fuel excise duty rate paid as part of the retail price of fuel. Road-user charges are based on distance travelled. They must be purchased in advance of travel and those people subject to road-user charges must affix a label to the vehicle that proves they have a valid road-user charges licence.For this reason we provide several different ways for people to purchase road-user charges. You can purchase in person from agents across the country or you can directly purchase online from Waka Kotahi. All the standard payment methods will be available to people during the second temporary reduction period and the Minister is assured that Waka Kotahi has the resources in place to support those people who need help to purchase. We're keeping safeguards in place to discourage excessive purchases. The pre-purchase nature of road-user charges does create a risk of drivers or owners purchasing excessive amounts. When we first introduced the reductions in April 2022 we put some safeguard measures into the Road User Charges Act. We did this to discourage people from making excessive purchases or abusing the intent of the reduction. Waka Kotahi has been empowered to flag and investigate potential excessive or unreasonable purchases. If it concludes that the purchase was unreasonable it can invoice purchasers at the full or standard rate for the excess. Waka Kotahi's website provides guidance to help guide decisions on what is likely to be an acceptable or reasonable purchase. Individual travel patterns are often unique and the guidance recognises this.Passing this bill is a priority. We need to pass this bill because it is a way to provide timely support to many households and businesses across the country. It will deliver real savings for people who own and drive diesel vehicles and we can implement it quickly. We look forward to the debate on this bill. Kia ora tātou.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to."