Lees-Galloway Iain: Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLees-Galloway Iain: Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 16 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10363. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): That is an excellent choice. I think that is a fantastic choice. Given that there are more senior members than me seeking the call maybe they will get the call at the next opportunity. Part 2 of the Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill lays out the consequential amendments to the Land Transport Management (Apportionment and Refund of Excise Duty and Excise-Equivalent Duty) Regulations 2004. Essentially what this does is it gives a refund predominantly to farmers but also to other particular vehicle users who use their vehicles off-road. It seems a little bit anachronistic actually because in the schedule we have a detail of all the vehicles that are exempt vehicles. Motor vehicles used only on roads solely in connection with agricultural operations farmers’ vehicles used solely in connection with agricultural operations tractors or traction engines farmers’ tractors agricultural contractors’ tractors—so lots of talk about tractors there. The principle here is that if a vehicle is used principally off-road then it should not be paying fuel excise tax because fuel excise tax is used to pay for roads and public transport and other transport initiatives. These off-road vehicles are not using transport infrastructure because they are predominantly on the farm.I think it is strange that some are missing here. Vehicles that are predominantly used in forestry that do not go on public roads and maybe vehicles that are used predominantly in mining that do not go on public roads as well I would have thought would be covered by these types of exemptions and yet they are missing. What appears to have happened at some point in history is that probably Federated Farmers has got in the ear of the National Party and said: “Hey we need these exemptions.” so we have got these really specific exemptions when the principle here is quite sound.Hon Trevor Mallard: They’ve always been exempt.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: From tax in general? The principle here is a strong one though which is that vehicles that are used predominantly off-road should not have to pay fuel excise tax. That is how road-user charges work. So the diesel does not carry the road-user charge and therefore tractors that are fuelled by diesel predominantly work off-road—Hon Trevor Mallard: It’s inconsistent.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Well that may be. I mean there is inconsistency here Mr Mallard; you are absolutely right. Maybe there would be room for consistency by moving in one direction or the other. But it just seems bizarre that it is specifically about farmers and I do not know whether that is the relationship with the National Party or not. You know we have perhaps raised whether these exemptions can be rorted but all the people who are using this exemption are working hard on their farms to produce the produce that goes to market for sale. It is still of course the backbone of our economy—our agricultural sector—and these people are working really really hard. What they want of course is a decent roading infrastructure that can actually get those products from the farm to the market. It is all well and good—Hon Trevor Mallard: A decent railway interchange.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: And a decent railway interchange as well Mr Mallard. It is all well and good to have roads of national significance running up and down the spine of New Zealand but if we have not got decent roads going from the farm or the forest or the mine to those roads of national significance then what is the point of having these gold-plated unaffordable roads up and down the middle of the country if the local roads are not up to scratch? I suggest that John Hayes go and talk to the Mayor of Tararua District Council Roly Hayes. He is in Dannevirke interestingly enough. He might want to go and see—John Hayes: Ellis.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Roly Ellis sorry. You are absolutely right—Roly Ellis. He wants to go and talk to him. I suggest that he go and talk to Roly Ellis about his concerns about the fact that his local roads are predominantly gravel roads. They are not sealed. What Tararua is really looking forward to is when a considerable amount of forestry matures and comes on stream for logging and that will be a significant source of revenue for that district. But the roads are predominantly gravel roads. They are not decent roads prepared to carry the trucks that will carry that important produce—the logs—from the forest to the Port of Napier or to the roads of national significance or to the railway line that will get them to market.So it is all well and good for the National Party to focus on its political roads but as for the people who are working hard and getting the exemptions laid out here in Part 2 they can work as hard as they like but this Government is not working for them. This Government is not working for them because what this bill does is tax New Zealanders to pay for those roads of political significance. Try as they might even if they get these exemptions laid out in Part 2—and they are significant exemptions at 3.45c per litre—