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:10305. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): Back before the 2008 election when John Key and other National candidates and MPs went around the country campaigning to form the next Government they told New Zealanders that they were going to bring down taxes. That is what they said. They were going to bring down taxes they were going to lower costs for New Zealanders and the Labour Government was taking far too much tax off them. Of course what they meant—what they really meant—was that they were going to reduce personal tax rates for their mates and put up costs for everybody else.Of course what they did not tell New Zealanders was the whole range of ways that they were going to increase taxes and increase costs for New Zealanders. They did not tell them that early childhood education fees were going to increase by nearly 20 percent under the National-led Government. They did not tell New Zealand families that the so-called voluntary donations to primary schools and secondary schools were going to increase by 31 percent under the National-led Government. They did not tell studentsand graduates that they were going to put a $50 to $60 levy on all student loans. No they did not tell them about that tax increase.They certainly did not tell New Zealanders that the ACC work account was going to be increased by 67 percent or that the earners account was going to be increased by 23 percent or that the motor vehicle account was going to be increased by 31 percent. They did not tell New Zealanders that they were going to take away their KiwiSaver tax credit which is effectively a tax increase. They certainly did not tell New Zealanders that they were going to allow general practitioners’ fees to increase—actually hang on they did kind of signal that one. They did signal that one because remember John Key’s idea about the primary health sector: it is a market. “Frankly it’s a market.” he said. So they did kind of signal that they were going to allow costs for people to go and see their doctor to increase. They did not tell New Zealanders that they were going to increase prescription fees from $3 to $5 per prescription and they did not tell New Zealanders that—David Bennett: Stick to the bill.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: —there was going to be an overall increase in fuel excise tax David Bennett of 18.8 percent over the period of time that this Government has been in power.What are all those tax increases and cost increases all about? They are about getting this Government just squeaking over the line to surplus in 2014-15. That is what this tax increase is really about. It is about the fact that the Government made a promise that it would get New Zealand back into surplus and because of its failure to get the economy working again it has had to go and find every single little penny down the back of the couch to try to get New Zealand back into surplus. That is what this tax increase that this Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill—Brendan Horan: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I noticed the honourable David Bennett masticating what appears to be gum with his mouth wide open—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): That is irrelevant. The member will sit down. That is just interrupting the flow of the debate and it is unacceptable. We will not have any of that.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Look this is what John Key said. He said: “National is not going to be raising GST.”—not going to be raising GST. “National wants to cut taxes not raise taxes.” John Key said that back in 2008. Well it has been proven to be patently untrue.But what is this all about? The Minister of Transport would have us believe that what this is about is making sure there is enough money to build his roads of national significance. We do know that National is absolutely obsessed not with roads—not with roads because local roads suffer under a National Government—but with its gigantic holiday highways. That is what National is obsessed with. Actually if there was some truth to what the Minister said about what this bill is for that is what it is for.Why is it that National is so obsessed with these massive giant gold-plated holiday highways? Well there is actually a good book about what this is all about and it is calledThe Hollow Men. All we have to do is refer to some of those well-known emails—Don Brash’s email loop—and some of the ideas behind what this focus on highways is all about. An email was sent to Dr Brash and Maurice Williamson from a long-time supporter of ACT and now of National who thought that a National Party policy to dedicate all revenue from taxes at the petrol pump to roading would be a great platform for getting the support of the country: “I actually think the surpluses should be returned to those who pay them but the policy outlined above will get the support of the masses and that is the first priority.” So it was not about building an integrated growth-focused transport network across the country—no that is not what it is about. It is allabout politics—it is all about politics. That is why National is obsessed with these highways.Again in another email Bryan Sinclair forwarded the letter to Brash and others saying: “I hate to revisit this issue and I know the fiscal and political issue surrounding this sort of commitment but I really do agree with the substance ... in terms of vote winning.”—in terms of vote winning or another way of putting it vote buying. “He proposed they have a policy saying ‘National will within 5 years of becoming Government apply all petrol tax revenue raised٭solely٭ to roading and transport infrastructure across New Zealand.’ ” So this is all about politics. I get it—I get it. That is why National likes these highways so much—because an integrated transport network that is focused on growth is not exactly the best way to buy votes. What people like to see are nice tangible pieces of infrastructure that they can see and that they can use. That is what makes people feel good. That is what makes people like David Bennett feel good and what makes Mike Sabin feel good because they can point to it and they can say: “We did that. We did that.” That is what this is all about.Compare that with coastal shipping. The benefits of investing in coastal shipping are that you get better allocation of capital because you can make better use of the capital investment in roads and rail by taking some of the congestion off roads and rail and putting it on coasting shipping. Coastal shipping is far more environmentally positive because the emissions from coastal shipping per tonne per kilometre are far lower than they are from road or rail. That is actually a more effective use of taxpayers’ money but you cannot see it you cannot feel it. Voters do not see the ships going up and down the coastline in the same way that they see highways being built so National does not like it. It might make economic sense it might be growth-focused it might be environmentally focused it might be the best use of the resources we have in our transport budget and it might be a more sensible allocation of capital but National does not like it because the politics do not stack up even if the economic argument stacks up.This National Government is very very good at saying no. It has said no to Auckland which has come up with a positive integrated plan for its transport network. Instead of working with the Auckland Council the Government has decided to go war with the Auckland Council. Before they had even had a conversation about what is the right mix of infrastructure to build and the right mix of revenue to raise the money needed to build that infrastructure the Government has just said “No no no.” and ruled it all out without even having a conversation with Len Brown or his team.It is very good at saying no to rail. It just does not believe in it. It does not want to see rail being used as an important part of an integrated transport structure.Hon Gerry Brownlee: We’re spending a fortune on it. What a silly statement.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: The truth is Gerry Brownlee that 90 percent of the transport budget is spent on roads and 7 percent is spent on rail. This Government does not believe in rail it is not supporting rail and it never will support rail because the backers of rail are not the financial backers of the National Party in the same way that road transport users are.National is very good at saying no to anything in the transport network that reduces emissions and improves New Zealand’s impact on the environment. That is what this Government is about. It is about saying no to an integrated transport network it is about saying no to proper capital allocation and it is about saying no to a growth agenda. It is about saying yes to political expediency and the transport infrastructure that is most likely to buy votes. That is why New Zealanders’ taxes are going up under National and that is why the costs to New Zealand families are going up under National. That is not what it promised but of course broken promises are exactly what we have come to expect from this National Government.