Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): Thank you Madam Chair. It's a pleasure to stand and take a call on this the Immigration (International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy) Amendment Bill. I'd like to address some comments that were made by the leader of the Green Party the Hon James Shaw and also the Minister in the chair the Hon Iain Lees-Galloway. I thought that the comments were a little bit alarmist when the Hon James Shaw got up and said that the implementation of this levy was going to create a collapse of the economy. I don't think anyone on this side of the House in the Opposition has mentioned anything about a collapse of the economy.But one thing that we are very worried about—one thing that we are very worried about—is the fact that we're in this House in urgency debating bills where the Government is taxing Kiwis. If they're not taxing Kiwis they're going to be taxing visitors to New Zealand. The point is quite simply this. I think most Kiwis—most people in New Zealand—accept that in our political cycle there's something that happens. You get a Labour Government that comes into Government and they borrow more and they tax more and they spend more—and it's normally untargeted spending—and actually then the economy starts to slow down as well. That does have an impact on the welfare and the wellbeing of Kiwis. When you keep implementing tax—and that's all we're doing really in urgency over these couple of days is implementing more tax—we feel that that can start to have a detrimental impact and effect on the economy. I think that is the point that the speakers have been making on this side of the Chamber when they've been taking calls.I'm going to speak to Part 1. I do have some questions around this and I think fundamentally it is very important in terms of where the funding is going. I'm still recovering actually from the speech that my good friend and colleague the Hon David Bennett delivered. He made some very nice comments I thought in relation to the Labour Party. I thought that in that spirit of bipartisanship around our Department of Conservation estate and certainly our tracks and our huts which do need ongoing investment and maintenance without a doubt to make sure that our visitors do have a great experience—I remember in this House a few years ago in the spirit of that bipartisanship the Hon David Parker making a very nice offer to the Hon Gerry Brownlee to accompany him on a trekking weekend into the mountains. The Hon Gerry Brownlee came back and he thanked him for that offer and he said What do I need to bring? What clothing do I need?" The Hon David Parker came back and he clarified. He said "All you need is tramping boots." So you can understand why the Hon Gerry Brownlee came back and politely declined a weekend in the mountains trekking with David Parker only wearing tramping boots.But in the spirit of that offer—Hon Todd McClay: Why did you leave that picture with us?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Yeah that's very true. I apologise for that. But in the spirit of that offer I'd like to extend an offer to the Hon Iain Lees-Galloway and the Hon Eugenie Sage—I see that she's in the Chamber—and the Hon Kelvin Davis: come and join me. Come and walk some of the great tracks that we've got in Warkworth. But I just want to make clear: yes you need sturdy footwear but please bring some shorts and a Swanndri as well. The Minister doesn't seem that interested now—ha ha!Hon Todd McClay: Why didn't anybody invite Kelvin?Hon MARK MITCHELL: No I invited Kelvin. The invitation's extended to Kelvin as well.CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Can we come back to the bill please? Thank you.Hon MARK MITCHELL: So—Part 1 of the bill. The reality of this is we don't know where the money is going. Actually is that a serious issue to raise? Absolutely it is—absolutely it is. We need to know where the money's going. I'd like the Ministers to stand and take a call and tell us how it's going to be treated because otherwise we're going to believe that it could just disappear into a consolidated fund. It could be reprioritised. It could end up anywhere. It could end up funding a working group. I actually want to know. I want to have clear advice from the Minister in the chair that this money this levy that's being collected is actually going to be used to develop the facilities to develop the tracks and to look after the outstanding infrastructure that we already have in place and actually that the previous National Government made a huge commitment to and a huge investment in.So I'd just like the Minister to stand and take a call and clearly outline—actually I'd like to know how the levy's going to be collected too because I believe there's going to be a big compliance cost attached to that but we'll talk about that in the next part. Just get up and explain to us exactly how this money is going to be treated and that we can be confident that it is actually going to be spent in the right places supporting our tourism industry with infrastructure."