Baldock Larry: Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Baldock Larry: Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:621;Page:16620] 
LARRY BALDOCK (United Future) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of United Future to speak on the Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill and to announce to the House that United Future will support the bill. We understand that nobody in this country wants to pay tax and we would all like to see tax reduced but we are prepared to pay tax that goes to specific purposes. Most reasonable New Zealanders when they see a benefit from paying tax are prepared to pay their share. We are prepared to support this legislation because this tax is being raised to improve the conditions of our roads in New Zealand and to build the new roads we need. 
We want better roads in this country. I do not believe there is a motorist who would oppose seeing a better quality of road which would mean safer roads for our drivers and passengers and a more efficient transport system. We go to Europe and see their beautiful roads and we understand the price they pay to have that. The cost of their fuel is far far higher than what New Zealanders pay for their petrol here in New Zealand. So we are prepared to support the legislation because 100 percent of this new tax will go to the National Land Transport Fund to be spent on the construction of new roads and the improvement of roads which are desperately needed in New Zealand. 
The second reason we will support it is because it will then be redistributed from the National Land Transport Fund back to the regions it was raised from on a population-distribution basis. We believe that is very good news. United Future has long supported that when we devolve responsibilities to local government we should also give local government the funding it needs to carry out those responsibilities. This is one instance where local communities which face increased costs in building their roads and in improving the State highway network will get back the tax increase for their own regions so that they can have some decision-making power over how the money is spent. We believe that is very good progress on United Future’s policy of devolution of funding to local government and to local communities. 
We agree with the Minister of Finance that it is prudent to allow flexibility as to when to introduce the new tax because of the recent spike in fuel prices. If in fact fuel prices are still very high next year it will make sense to defer the introduction of the tax for some time; at this stage no one can predict what the fuel price will be next year. But we do not believe that we should base all our decisions on overseas factors. We need to have roads in New Zealand and we have to pay for them. 
We should have built those roads some time ago as has been pointed out by other speakers before me. It would have been a lot cheaper to build them in years gone past. The longer we wait to build the roads we need now the more it will cost us in the future. We should not have been diverting as much of the fuel tax to what was the consolidated account but is now the Crown account; previous National and Labour Governments used to take a lot more of the fuel tax than happens today under this Government. We would already have had better-quality roads and they would have been built more cheaply than their cost today. The longer we wait the more it will cost us so by both fuel tax and other means we need to get stuck into the important task of building an efficient transport network in our country. The longer we wait the more construction costs there will be and the more costs there will be to our economy from the congestion and frustration that people face in trying to move both people and products around our country. To have a vibrant economy we must have an efficient affordable integrated safe sustainable and responsive transport system and that is part of what our national land transport strategy states very clearly. 
United Future is well aware of the concerns of New Zealand motorists about the diversion of what is currently 18.5c per litre from the fuel excise tax to the Crown account. In supporting this legislation United Future makes it very clear that we continue to have an ongoing concern about that and we have consistently pressured the Government to complete a study into what the costs to us all in New Zealand are of petrol use for transportation—in other words the health effects of fuel emissions and the environmental costs and effects of vehicle use and road construction. For the last 2 years I have urged the Ministers of Transport to complete the study so that there can be transparency in New Zealand about what the money is being diverted for. I am happy to know that according to information given to me recently the study is almost complete and we will be able to have a discussion in this country about whether it is justifiable for 18.5c to be diverted to the Crown account to take care of those other non-road costs of the use of petrol fuel in New Zealand. If we cannot answer that question transparently and openly it is understandable that motorists begrudge the fact that more tax is coming at the same time as the Government is diverting some of the existing tax that has already been raised without a good explanation of where it goes. 
In answer to my written question to the Hon Pete Hodgson I received the reply that last year 3.214 billion litres of petrol were sold in New Zealand. At a rate of 18.5c per litre approximately $594 million was diverted to the Crown account. We want the Surface Transport Costs and Charges Scoping Study for New Zealand which is the study being conducted to justify that diversion of expenditure to be able clearly to convince New Zealanders that there is $594 million worth of reasonable cost associated with petrol use in our country; otherwise we should see a further reduction of the amount of 18.5c that is currently being diverted to the Crown account. United Future again pledges our commitment today to the New Zealand motorist that we will faithfully and consistently remind the Government of its obligation to answer that question for motorists and to present the information to the motoring public. 
We do however congratulate the Minister of Finance on agreeing last year to my request to reduce the diversion to cover the cost of the Auckland funding package announced last year. Somewhere between 2c and 3c will be coming off the amount diverted as that package comes into full effect. That is more than New Zealand First ever accomplished when it was the coalition partner of National and when the leader of New Zealand First was Treasurer for the country. 
I state again for clarity’s sake that if the surface costs and charges study does not adequately answer motorists’ accusations of unjustified diversion to the Crown account United Future will expect the Government at the very least to announce a future reduction in the amount diverted that matches the 5c we are asking motorists to put their hands into their pockets and pay for the important project of building new roads in our country. 
 United Future supports our building roads and paying for them via revenue raised by fuel excise tax and road-user charges because it does make sense. It is an efficient way to raise revenue. But we do not think it is the only way to pay the cost of road construction. In fact if we were to rely on only that method the cost of fuel in New Zealand would rise dramatically which would create real hardships for some sectors of our society and our economy. The NBR - Phillips Fox poll last week demonstrated that a resounding 60 percent of those polled said they supported the use of road tolls to pay for the improvement of existing roads and the building of new roads. A resounding 60 percent of New Zealanders endorsed United Future’s achievement in this term of Government in passing legislation—with the Government—that allowed for alternative methods of raising revenue to pay for road construction and road improvements. The  
National Business Review  
article stated: “The Labour-led Government has been given a wake-up call on roading issues by the latest NBR - Phillips Fox poll.” It would probably have been more accurate to say that the Green Party was being given a wake-up call because New Zealanders want roads; or that the New Zealand First Party was being given a wake-up call because New Zealanders are prepared to pay tolls to build new roads where necessary. 
So we shall be supporting this legislation which is only one part of a package of measures in order to improve our transport infrastructure in this country.