2. Question No. 2—FinanceHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 2—Finance2. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by all the Government's actions and statements in relation to the New Zealand economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes in the context in which they were made and undertaken.Hon Amy Adams: Did the Prime Minister discuss with him her concerns about the extension of regional fuel taxes to other regions prior to her announcement in the House yesterday?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The Prime Minister and other Ministers have discussed often over this year the question of the way in which we fund transport infrastructure around New Zealand. I've enjoyed being part of those discussions and indeed have spoken about them in public previously.Hon Amy Adams: So what were the concerns the Prime Minister discussed with him about the extension of regional fuel taxes prior to yesterday?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What we've discussed is that there are many ways of funding transport infrastructure. In Auckland the Auckland Council proposed and the Government agreed to a regional fuel tax. I can give the member an example of when I was in Hamilton in February and I was asked about this and I made it quite clear that a fuel tax for Hamilton was not on the agenda.Hon Amy Adams: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I listened very carefully and I had asked for some indication of what the concern was about it being used in other regions. The Minister talked about transport funding and having ruled it out for Hamilton. I didn't hear anything where he attempted to address the reason they had concerns about extending it to other regions.SPEAKER: Well I thought the Minister said that there are alternative ways of funding it.Hon Amy Adams: Did the Prime Minister express those concerns to the Minister prior to the legislation being passed which legislated for exactly the situation the Prime Minister ruled out yesterday?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I said what this debate is about is how we fund transport infrastructure across New Zealand. The legislation says that in this term of Government there will be no other regional fuel taxes. The Prime Minister has made that fact absolutely clear. That's an important thing to do when the Leader of the Opposition is spreading false and fake news.Hon Amy Adams: Has the Prime Minister expressed concerns to him about any other aspects of the Government's programme that might indicate that more backflips are coming?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The Prime Minister is always urging Ministers to move faster and further to correct the mistakes and the underfunding of the previous nine years.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Just to be clear Minister is it the Government's position that despite the numerous calls for the fuel tax to be spread to other regions we are staying staunch with our commitment to leave it just for Auckland?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Absolutely. I'm not entirely clear what the Opposition's stance is now on how they'll fund transport infrastructure and we once again wonder where the Opposition's fiscal stance is. It's very hard to see today how they would fund transport infrastructure.Hon Amy Adams: Is the reason that the Prime Minister yesterday ruled out any new regional fuel taxes while she is Prime Minister despite having just legislated for exactly that because the Government has now had to accept that it's the one fleecing New Zealand over power prices?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I think the member might have meant fuel prices rather than power prices but no the reason the Prime Minister did that was because it was time to clarify in response to the misinformation being spread by the Leader of the Opposition.