SpeechPAUL EAGLE (Labour—Rongotai) (remote): Madam Speaker kia ora. It gives me great pleasure to speak on this the first reading of the Road User Charges (Temporary RUC Reduction Scheme) Amendment Bill. And can I just acknowledge that we can still use this function when those in your home have got COVID unfortunately.I do want to just point out from the previous speaker Matt Doocey around the word crises". It's entirely relevant but in the context of the geopolitical and economic territory in terms of what's happening in terms of the invasion of Ukraine and of course a positive event—and that's the ongoing recovery from this pandemic that we're in and the impact on fuel prices across the globe and of course in New Zealand. That's essentially why this has come to be. And we're putting it through today because as we've heard hard-working New Zealanders want this they want this now and this Government has been agile enough to look at a scheme and put it in place. I want to applaud those who have worked hard to get this on the agenda and to get it on very quickly because I know that from Friday 1 April through to 30 June people will be very happy with the cut in fuel excise duty.But also the funding provided for local government in terms of half-price public transport fares—and I do represent a big core user of public transport in east and south Wellington. So there is general happiness—if we can just fix the cancellations but that's through drivers having COVID and just not enough of them. We've done it with their wages and I know that in south-east Wellington it is a real hit. It has made a big difference. I have the pleasure of keeping in touch with our chair of the regional council who run bus services—that's Daran Ponter and he can confirm in a chat this morning about user patterns and what's happening around the city that it's good news.I have to say that I really do hope that in this—I guess this three-month period—that we can use it as a pilot as such to look at some of that mode shift that's been long desired and I know for large urban metros this will hopefully have some big impact. I want to just say too that the confirmation of the RUC discount does support New Zealanders getting through that global energy crisis. I know that we've heard words where it's unrelated but it's entirely related and this is the sort of action that New Zealanders expect from a hard-working agile quick-moving Government who can make changes quickly.I did pick up that the Opposition is supportive and that's important because what it shows is that this is a good idea. It's a simple idea; it has some complexity around the road-user charges components but all in all it means that all New Zealanders—whether they own a vehicle or not; being diesel or use public transport as they do in the big cities and other places of course—it does help them out in the pocket and that's what matters most. I know that the road transport industry who play that vital role in the supply of essential goods across the country wanted to see a signal from this Government during these challenging times and that's what we've put on the table.I'm looking forward to speaking in the second and third readings and putting this through this evening. I commend this bill to the House."