Key John: Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Key John: Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:623;Page:18615] 
JOHN KEY (National—Helensville) 
: 
 The Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill is only a relatively small piece of legislation but it packs a lot of punch. It is a real punch in the guts to a whole lot of New Zealanders who are trying to work out why when Michael Cullen has $7000 million of surplus money available to him—[ 
Interruption 
] That is right: $7 billion - odd. They are sitting at home now probably wanting to have a nice sherry and watch the news in an hour’s time trying to work out why they will have to pay 5.6c a litre in petrol tax—why they will have to pay more in petrol tax than they could possibly imagine. 
They will be discussing this issue as we move towards the election. Why? Mark my words: even though this bill if it is enacted will allow the Minister of Finance to put on that petrol tax in a few weeks’ time when it is available to him he will not. He will not because he knows that it is deeply unpopular he knows that he cannot justify his position to the electorate and he knows that thousands and thousands of motorists up and down the country know when they are getting ripped off. I say to Mr Barker that they know when their income is rising in nominal terms but not in real terms. They know the impact of inflation. They know how deeply unfair it is when they have to pay the top personal rate of taxation on some income so that in real terms they get nothing. Now they are having to wear this on the other side. 
They know another rip-off when they see it. They know a Government that does not have the courage—if I can use that term— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No the member cannot imply that anyone lacks courage. 
JOHN KEY 
: The Government does not have the intestinal fortitude then to test this measure with the public prior to the election. The Government is happy to put the indexation on immediately—no problems there—but it is very happy to leave this measure until after the election. I predict today that it will not matter whether the price of oil is $40 the day before the election and lo and behold the extra petrol tax cannot go on; it could be $45 the day after the election and if Labour wins the tax will be on with plenty more to come because this Government simply loves to tax people and simply loves to spend more. 
Mr Barker made what I thought was a very interesting comment. He said it was only another 5c. It is only another $200 million from the fixed incomes of New Zealanders. It is only another couple of hundred million dollars. When the Government is amassing a surplus of $7 billion - odd what difference does it make? [ 
Interruption 
] Yes the Government is taking $34 billion of extra tax this year. Who really cares whether it takes an extra couple of hundred million dollars? 
Labour has tried pretty hard to create the image that it is doing so much more to build roads. That of course is a mirage. Maurice Williamson pointed out in his address quite correctly that in fact this Government is spending less in terms of a real percentage of GDP on roading than it has spent before. It is not spending more; it is spending less. It is spending less than Australia less than America and less than England. It is spending less than most other OECD countries. And those are countries that have welcomed the private sector as well. 
When New Zealanders go to Sydney Melbourne or Brisbane for their holidays they notice the difference between the kind of holiday they have there and the kind of holiday they have in New Zealand. The holiday they have in New Zealand is primarily spent in the car. They set off on Friday night for what is normally a 1-hour drive to their beach house and they get there some time on Saturday afternoon. In a fit of frustration they pack up on Saturday night and pop back into town on Monday morning. It is basically a really interesting exercise in how to have a holiday in a car. No wonder New Zealanders are buying bigger cars; they have to have bigger cars because they sleep and shower in them! [ 
Interruption 
] That is right. 
I recently had a very interesting experience which I will relay in order to show how bad things are. At a public meeting just the other day a member of the public said to me: “When you become the Government in a few months fix the roads.” I asked why. He said that he had just dropped his son at the airport for a flight to Nelson. His son had rung from his home in Nelson and said: “How’s it going dad?” to which the reply was: “I’m still on the north-western motorway; I haven’t got back from the airport.” That is how bad things are. His son had flown to Nelson but he was still on the north-western motorway—and the Government says it is fixing the problem! I do not think so.