Peachey Allan: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Peachey Allan: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5374] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I appreciate the opportunity to rise and speak in support of the Road User Charges Amendment Bill. My objective will be to try to bring back some structure to the debate. Members will recall that on Thursday when the debate was interrupted the Minister of Transport had clearly and concisely laid out for the House the provisions of the bill and its intentions. What then followed were Opposition and Green Party members who floundered around and talked on just about everything except the bill—although I give Mr O’Connor some credit for being somebody from Labour who finally acknowledged that the bill was good legislation. It is a just a shame that his fellow speakers spent so much time wandering all over the place—and they were members who sat on the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and who should have been totally on top of their material. 
The purpose of this bill is twofold. It makes two distinct amendments to the Road User Charges Act 1977. The first is to enable regulations to be made exempting light electric cars from road-user charges and I want to focus on that for a moment. Firstly I say to the House that this is one more example of the way that this National Government keeps its election promises. National made it very very clear prior to coming into Government that it was its intention to do that. Maybe that is why Labour members spent so much time floundering around; they do not know a lot about keeping election promises which is why they were thrown out on their ear in November last year. 
If members look at the legislation they will see that there is a compelling logic to what the Government is proposing to do. Firstly and I guess this is what the Greens choke on private vehicles will continue to be the most significant mode of transport for New Zealanders for as far as we can see in the future. To deny that is to deny gravity. When we combine that with the major competitive advantage New Zealand has in the generation of renewable electricity the logic is compelling. The intention is that the exemption will be granted for 4 years coming into effect on 1 October 2009 and will apply until 2013 at which time it is estimated that there will about 300 electric cars in New Zealand’s vehicle fleet. The exemption is designed to encourage the use and development of a new technology and one that will in coming years have a significant future. The second provision— 
Hon Annette King 
: National laughed about that policy last year—said it wouldn’t work! 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: I am sorry the member will have to speak up; I am a long way away. 
The second provision is to give 42 days’ notice of any increase in road-user charges for all diesel motor vehicle owners. That is fair and it is proper. Again it is necessary to refer back to the behaviour of the previous Labour Government which in 2008 showed that it did not have a clue about business and the effect of Government charging on business. In 2008 the Government increased the road-user charge rates without notice at a time that coincided with high fuel prices. Transport operators were unable to pass the increases on to customers straight away and they publicly demonstrated against the increases. It was one more example of the insensitivity to the needs and best interests of business by that Labour Government and its Minister of Transport at the time and of a lack of respect for fairness in the process. You see for heavy motor vehicle operators the road-user charge represents a major cost of doing business. Changes in the road-user charge rates that cannot be passed on to consumers in a timely manner significantly decrease marginal profitability and we cannot afford to have our businesses put into that position. The 42 days’ notification will improve businesses’ ability to operate by providing them with the opportunity to pass on the new costs that derive from any road-user charge increases. 
This bill the Road User Charges Amendment Bill is a significant one that marks out a new direction for transport policy in this country. It will open up the way for further development of electric cars and it will be fairer to heavy transport operators when it is necessary to increase road-user charges. I commend the bill to the House.