12. Question No. 12—TransportHon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) to the Associate Minister of TransportQuestion No. 12—Transport12. Hon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) to the Associate Minister of Transport: Does she support NZTA's current campaign which promotes the message The safer the car the safer they are" to encourage New Zealanders to purchase safer vehicles?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Associate Minister of Transport): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Yes I do. Vehicle safety along with road design and speed can make the difference as to whether someone survives a crash or not. This campaign is about raising awareness with New Zealanders about vehicle safety before they buy their car not after.Hon Tim Macindoe: What is the total cost of the safer cars campaign?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: You would have to direct that question to the New Zealand Transport Agency. They are entirely responsible for administering their own budget on road safety awareness campaigns.SPEAKER: Order! That's not a satisfactory answer. I think if the member is answering a transport question of this type she has parliamentary responsibility for it even if she doesn't have operational responsibility. If she doesn't have the figure then she should say so and provide it later.Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I don't have the figure but I can request it from the New Zealand Transport Agency. But it's within the overall budget that has been allocated to road safety awareness campaigns.Hon Tim Macindoe: Was she consulted by her colleague the Minister for ACC before he decided to increase ACC levies on New Zealand's safest motor vehicles?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I assume that what the member is referring to is the fact that ACC levies are going to be the same for all vehicles now which I think is a fairer policy. Of course across Government we had discussions about the vehicle risk rating (VRR) policy and whether or not it was effective at driving behaviour change and the evidence is that it wasn't.Hon Tim Macindoe: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I specifically asked the Minister if she was consulted by the Minister for ACC.SPEAKER: She said she had discussions.Hon Tim Macindoe: Were the Minister's officials consulted on the proposals to increase ACC levies on New Zealand's safest vehicles?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Officials and the Minister and myself all had discussions about changes to the VRR policy which was to ensure that it was fair to all New Zealanders. I know that member is characterising it as raising levies. It wasn't raising levies; it was ensuring that all New Zealanders pay the same levy for their motor vehicle.Hon Tim Macindoe: What official data did she receive from those officials to inform the advice they gave her?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I have advice from the Ministry of Transport that there has been no change to the rate of vehicle scrappage since the introduction of VRR and evidence from overseas is that annual charges as opposed to those at entry are not effective tools to modify vehicle purchase decisions. I understand where the member is coming from. The reality is that it sounds good in theory but VRR did not work in practice to drive behaviour change because the levy is after people have made the decision about what vehicle to purchase. The point of what the Government is doing is ensuring that we raise awareness so that New Zealanders can make that decision when they're buying their vehicle and not be punished after they've already made a decision for which they had virtually no information.Hon Tim Macindoe: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked what official data the Minister had received. I don't believe she's answered that question either.SPEAKER: I think quite early on she said she received information or similar.Hon Tim Macindoe: Data.SPEAKER: Well you can't have information without data. You can have data without information but not the other way around."