Guy Nathan: Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3) — Second ReadingThird Reading 
Guy Nathan: Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3) — Second ReadingThird Reading 
[Volume:643;Page:13230] 
NATHAN GUY (National) 
: 
 It is with great pleasure that I rise to talk about the Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3). It is very important legislation in front of Parliament this evening. In particular I will make some comments on clause 8 in Part 2 regarding the Commodity Levies Act 1990 which is very important legislation for the rural community and also clause 13 in Part 2 regarding the Road User Charges Act 1977. 
When we look at the Road User Charges Act 1977 we see that it establishes a mechanism whereby cost can be incurred for vehicles particularly heavy trucks that are over 3.5 tonnes. The member Jonathan Coleman from Auckland would see them travelling over the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The revenue generated from these road user charges is paid into the National Land Transport Fund. It is great to see that the Labour Government has endorsed the National Party policy of 2005 by now putting all those taxes into roading instead of into the consolidated account because we all know that about 50 percent of costs incurred at the petrol pump and the diesel pump goes into taxes. 
Hon Member 
: Siphoned off. 
NATHAN GUY 
: Yes it is siphoned off into the consolidated account. So it is great to hear that the Labour Government is now endorsing the National Party policy of 2005 by putting those taxes into getting more roads built in this country. [ 
Interruption 
] 
I looked at the Act which I have in front of me for Mr Duynhoven’s information. He might be interested to learn that this legislation came into effect in March 1978 and I want to raise some particular points for Mr Duynhoven. I will talk about the number of axles permitted on the road and about the road-bearing weights on those axles as well. Mr Duynhoven would I am sure be very interested in that. We can look at what is happening in Australia where there are road trains or B trains. Australians are allowed far longer loads on their vehicles than we in New Zealand are so I think that will happen here in time. Perhaps under a National Government we could inject some more money into roading and get the Resource Management Act tidied up. 
The other aspect I want to talk about is the Commodity Levies Act 1990. When we look at this Act we see that it covers a whole wide range of primary production sectors. I will not go through all of them but I will give Mr Duynhoven a few examples. It includes arable crops and asparagus right through to milk meat maize nashi pears—I am not sure whether any of those grow up in Taranaki; it might be too cold—and through to horticultural products such as passionfruit and other pipfruit. In essence we are passing this subordinate legislation this evening to ensure that those primary sector industries have some funding to be able to get on and do market research and research and development. Some may choose through the process in the Regulations Review Committee to put it out for 5 years and some may choose to have it struck at 1 year and generally the percentages range between 1 percent and 5 percent. 
National has no issues with this legislation in front of us tonight. In fact we believe that it is very important and paramount legislation particularly for primary industry products that are covered by clause 8 relating to the Commodity Levies Act 1990. So National supports this reading of this bill in Parliament this evening.