Twyford PhilLAND TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT (REGIONAL FUEL TAX) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Transport): I move That the Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.Thank you Mr Speaker. When this Government came to office we discovered that my predecessor as transport Minister Simon Bridges had left a multibillion-dollar hole in his Auckland transport plan—not a hole that had been concocted for political purposes but an actual fiscal hole that had been reported earlier last year as around $5 billion but as we found out when we took office it was in fact $9 billion. That meant that important transport projects that the former National Government had promised could not be funded nor built. They would have remained just promises on paper.The regional fuel tax contained in this Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill fixes that fiscal hole. It will mean that $4.3 billion of extra funding for Auckland transport over the next decade will be available only $1.5 billion of which comes from the regional fuel tax itself. That means that we have been able to present a fully funded 10-year plan for Auckland Transport—a record investment in the transport system of our country's biggest city.We've just been through a nine-year experiment in underfunding Auckland transport and the results are there for everyone to see. Road deaths and serious injuries have risen sharply way beyond the increase in population or the number of vehicles on the roads. The roads are clogged and congestion is costing Auckland $1.3 billion a year in lost productivity. Our public transport system is under strain and needs urgent upgrading.Auckland is not the only region where there is a critical and urgent need for greater investment in transport infrastructure. The previous Government cut transport funding in regions right across New Zealand and I hear the calls from other councils around this country for greater investment but for this term of the Parliament the regional fuel tax will be limited to Auckland alone. That is what we campaigned on and that's what this Government will deliver. Other regions will benefit from our increased funding for regional and local roads and a much greater new focus on safety.For Auckland only the regional fuel tax can deliver the level of investment needed to fund the infrastructure that the city so desperately needs. The Leader of the Opposition claims that we should fund this investment out of Government surpluses instead. When he was asked how he would fill the gap that would be left in Auckland's transport plan by a hypothetical National Government cancelling the regional fuel tax he said We would fund it from growth." Well there are a couple of big problems with that. The first is that it goes against this Government's principle that Auckland should contribute its fair share to transport investment—not by putting the whole cost on the rest of the country. Secondly smaller surpluses mean more debt and the same person demanding that we spend more with no extra revenue is also demanding that we run less debt.In contradiction to Simon Bridges Jami-Lee Ross says that I should lean on Auckland Council to make them cut $150 million a year from their spending to replace the regional fuel tax revenue. Of course I did discuss this with Mayor Phil Goff but here's the reality: most of any increase in Auckland Council spending in recent years has been on infrastructure—mostly transport and mostly roads. What road projects would National cancel in order to fund their transport plan and what kind of a silly money-go-round would that policy be?The reality is simple. If we're to have less revenue to pay for transport we would have to run more debt cancel projects or both. The Opposition is asking us to simultaneously have less revenue less debt and spend more. The maths don't add up and National needs to come clean and tell us which projects they would cut. Would they cut Penlink—would they cut Penlink? Would they cut Mill Road? Would they cut eight different park-and-rides that will be funded by the regional fuel tax?Here's a list of the $4.3 billion of projects that the regional fuel tax will fund: $898 million in roading improvements and new roads to meet population growth; $753 million for the Auckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative busway which will deliver a massive transport improvement in Botany after nine years of no investment in that electorate; and $708 million for Mill Road and Penlink two vital roading projects that National talked about but did nothing about for nine long years and then spread fake news that our Government was going to cancel those projects. There's $552 million for road safety—targeted safety improvements in Auckland's roading network which are forecast to lead to a 60 percent drop in deaths and serious injuries. There's $396 million for electric trains including 20 more trains to keep up with surging demand; $342 million for walking and cycling including 125 kilometres of new cycleways; $334 million for bus improvements and airport access including 200 kilometres of bus priority improvements; and $299 million for public transport infrastructure including more park-and-rides and ferry wharf development. This is a massive list of transport projects none of which would happen without the regional fuel tax.What the National Party doesn't seem to understand is that there is no magic money tree to pay for these transport projects and you'd think they'd know that because they left a $9 billion hole in their transport plan that they had no explanation for.Let's be clear that Auckland Council will be accountable for how it uses this money. It's important that Auckland Council doesn't just start projects but it completes them on time and on budget. For that reason this bill provides for appropriate Crown oversight of any revenue raised tight controls on the use of that revenue a ministerial review procedure and ongoing public reporting to provide transparency to the public. But let's be clear about one more thing: take this regional fuel tax away and Auckland would be back in the position of having empty promises of projects and no money to pay for them.This Government could have followed in the path of the former National Government. We could have promised transport projects and never built them. We could have forced the rest of New Zealand to pay the full costs of Auckland's growth. I could have copied Simon Bridges and presented an Auckland transport plan with a multibillion-dollar hole in the heart of it and it would be easy to talk big with no money to pay for it and to put the vital infrastructure investments on hold as the last Government did for nine years holding back the growth and prosperity of our country's biggest city. But I wanted to be honest with the public. This Government wants to actually build the infrastructure that our country's biggest city needs. That costs money. It has to come from somewhere and we are already paying the price of doing nothing in congestion lost productivity and lives.Aucklanders want this problem fixed. They want a Government that will get on and fix the gridlock. They know that it can't be done for free. They know the price of the last nine years of under-investment because they pay it every day in the traffic. This regional fuel tax allows us to undertake the most ambitious transport construction plan in New Zealand history. It's time to get on with it time to stop talking about it—let's do this."