Brash Don: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Brash Don: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:614;Page:10353] 
1. Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
 Will she rule out an increase in petrol tax being included in the Government’s Auckland transport package due to be announced on December 12 in light of her comments recently that a 15c a litre petrol tax increase to fund Auckland transport was “ridiculous in my opinion”; if not why not? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Acting Prime Minister) 
: 
 Final decisions have not been made on petrol tax in the context of the Auckland transport package. 
Dr Don Brash 
: How will the Government’s package meet the shortfall between currently committed funding and the total expected cost of completing the Auckland transport network in light of estimates by Government and Auckland officials that the cost of completing the network could be between $8.5 billion and $9.6 billion? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I welcome the member’s recognition that additional funding will be required. That will be met in a number of ways over a period of time. 
Peter Brown 
: Noting those answers does the Prime Minister realise that the situation in Auckland is desperate—with delays costing individuals and operators thousands of dollars per year—in urgent need of for want of a better term a road development programme which should be addressed immediately; and if the Prime Minister does recognise that could the House be given some idea how it will be funded? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: That is why some of my most senior Ministers have been working with Auckland officials and Auckland mayors on a road transport package relating to public transport roading and other matters. The constraints on that are not merely constraints of funding but also constraints of capability and consents. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Will the Government be considering all sensible funding options including the contribution that parking charges might make to both demand management and transport funding in Auckland? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Yes. A number of measures are being looked at. Of course demand management is an important part of solving the Auckland problem. 
Larry Baldock 
: If the Government has to increase fuel tax to meet Auckland’s roading needs will the Government consider a reduction also in the amount diverted to the Crown account from fuel excise as a matching cent-for-cent procedure? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Yes the Government is prepared to look at that possibility in relation to the Auckland funding package. 
Dr Don Brash 
: Does the Prime Minister accept that the cost of fixing Auckland’s transport problem is at least $8 billion and can she assure the House that the announcement the Government is due to make next week will contain a commitment of funding appropriate to the size of the problem? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Certainly the Government will be making a commitment to provide funding appropriate to the size of the problem but also to the nature of the solutions that need to be found. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Before the Government decides to tax the motorist yet again will the Government take note of the fact that at the moment it is collecting $1742 million per year from petrol taxes fuel taxes road-user charges and car registration fees and is spending only $1464 million on the roads? Surely there is a good place to start when the Government is looking for more money? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: As the member knows the cost of capital is not covered in that series of figures. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: What does that mean? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: If an ex-Treasurer of this country does not know what the cost of capital means it shows why he was such a disaster! [ 
Interruption 
] 
Gordon Copeland 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I would like to have heard the Minister’s answer to that question. We could not hear it in this part of the House. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister might care just to repeat the answer. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The figures referred to by Mr Prebble do not include the cost of capital in relation to the roading system. The member may recall that during the last election the Automobile Association and the Road Transport Association—I think it was—claimed that the excise duty would have to double if the cost of capital were to be fully covered.