Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Well thank you Madam Chair. I did want to delve a little bit deeper into the nature of the Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) that is going to be forthcoming from Gerry Brownlee and in relation—CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Order! We will debate that further once the SOP is tabled. The member tabling it can refer to it but however we cannot debate it until we actually see the SOP so that we can see the content of it.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: And that's an excellent point Madam Chair so we'll wait for the arrival of that SOP. But in the meantime Part 2 that we're discussing here today is in relation to the amendment taking effect on 1 July 2020 for what will be the third—the third—of the successive increases in the motor fuel spirits levy. So that will bring the total to 10.5c extra a litre that motorists would be paying under this Government—Brett Hudson: Plus GST.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: —plus the GST which takes it nearly to well about 12.5c a litre extra that Kiwis are paying—and so you know that's not insignificant when the price of petrol of course as we all know fluctuates enormously in terms of the crude price of petrol. Everybody understands that but what they also understand is that the one thing that doesn't fluctuate—it only ever goes in one direction—is the extra amount of tax that's collected. We've had quite a number of speeches talking about elements of the fairness and wisdom of continuing to collect more and more fuel taxes and yet not delivering anything more in terms of roading infrastructure to growing cities and growing parts of the country and increased congestion on the roads. Indeed that fuel tax as Gerry Brownlee said under the Government policy statement is dedicated to encourage people to get out of their cars. So people are paying more tax at the petrol pump to go into their cars to encourage them to get out of their cars. Most people would probably find that a little bit strange and confusing.The other element is of course further discussion about where exactly the burden of this taxation falls. The point I was making yesterday—and it's equally relevant to Part 2 of this bill—is that while the person at the petrol pump feels the pain and pays the extra taxes and wonders where that is going it's the impact of that cumulative 12.5c a litre of petrol on everything that moves that adds to the cost of living. It's not just filling up your car that costs more; it's actually buying a litre of ice cream getting your bread and milk from the supermarket buying a new shirt buying a new TV buying your new fridge—anything that is transported anywhere. Probably the only thing that's not affected by it is your Netflix subscription or services that are delivered electronically. Yes you'll be free from this probably but for anything that is moved around the city and transported—ultimately the costs of that transport flow through to every part of the economy. That's why any Government that does this over time has to be absolutely strong in their clear arguments that the revenue that is being raised is actually going to be used to improve the lives of the people paying that tax.Anybody in Auckland can see the incredible improvement that the Waterview tunnel for example made to the movement of traffic in Auckland City. Anybody in the Waikato can see the incredible improvement that will come from the Waikato Expressway. What we're struggling with today is that the increases have increased in tempo. The previous Government referred to petrol tax increases in the previous Government over nine years. They were over a very extended period of time and very much focused on funding very clear projects and it's been replaced by a substantial quickening of that increase under this Government—12.5c in three years including GST—and at the same time an abandonment of any obvious and clear roading transport projects in order to make a difference to the lives of New Zealanders. That I think is where they're going to come unstuck over the next few years.