Williams Arena; Brown Simeon; O'Connor Damien; Foster AndyARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Thank you Madam Chair. A new question for the Minister on this part. I draw his attention to clause 2 which is the commencement. My question for the Minister is about (2)(a) of this clause and I'd like the Minister to provide the committee with some answers about this staggered commencement date. Usually in the legislation that I have examined in committee stage there has been one commencement date. It's possible for legislation to have multiple dates but that is somewhat unusual. In urgency it's useful for the House to understand why a staggered date exists and what the rationale is and what advice the Minister considered about the staggered commencement date.So in clause 2 most of the bill is introduced on 1 July. That is the date that terminates the Auckland regional fuel tax and though this side of the House does not agree with that we accept that between now and 1 July—that is a very quick time frame—that provides some buffer for those arrangements to be made which will need to be put into place: things like changes to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's regime of monitoring fuel prices which the Minister so helpfully told the House about in the prior debate. But my question is about the amendment restricting which capital projects will be supported from the Auckland regional fuel tax revenue because that comes into force the day after the bill receives Royal assent.My question to the Minister is: why is that earlier than 1 July? Is that because the Minister is essentially giving instructions to Auckland Council as soon as possible? Is there something which suggests to the Minister that Auckland Council would try to spend the regional fuel tax money on the projects which it prioritises over the priorities of the Minister? Is it the Minister's thinking that he needs to intervene given that the Mayor of Auckland has criticised this move by the Minister? Is it his thought that councillors will move against the Minister to spend that regional fuel tax money if he does not move this date forward? And what is the advice that he's had about bringing the date forward for this particular part of the commencement clause?Hon SIMEON BROWN (Minister of Transport): Thank you Madam Chair and I thank the member for her questions. The regional fuel tax date is ending on 1 July as she's pointed out. I note there's a tabled amendment by Tangi Utikere to try and push all those dates out. We're not supporting that. We were elected to remove the Auckland regional fuel tax; we are delivering on that commitment which Aucklanders overwhelmingly voted for.Now there are remaining funds in the Auckland Council coffers—over $340 million—and there'll be remaining funding which will be received between now and 1 July and as I've outlined publicly 1 July was the date chosen because that aligns with the Auckland Council's annual budget year and that's the right time to make that change. We want to make sure that the remaining funds go towards those priority projects and to do that the commencement clause means that effectively the scheme is amended immediately upon enactment so that those funds are channelled towards those projects and any remaining funds which are collected between now and 1 July are also channelled towards those projects. Then once the tax ends those funds continue to be channelled towards those projects until those funds are completed.That is the rationale for the commencement clauses and the three different ways in which it is put in this legislation. I think it's very sensible. I commend it to the House.Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Chair. There's been—with all due respect to my Auckland colleagues—a lot said about the effect on Auckland when this commencement occurs. I'm concerned about that but I'm more concerned—because no one on the other side of the House is—about what happens to other parts of the country. Because my questions—and the Minister and his colleagues voted down my amendment relating to road safety and the ongoing need for that funding. So given the absence of commitment to those projects the question I have for the Minister is: will other regions of the country following commencement then start to miss out because he succumbs to political pressure to fund some of these Auckland projects?Because they'd take money from Northland or they'll take money from Otago or they'll take money from South Canterbury because none of those members of Parliament are standing up for their own regions. So on behalf of them and other rural areas: once the commencement occurs how do we know that there's not going to be a shift in funding when the regional fuel tax ceases? How do we know there's not going to be a shift in funding from other parts of the country into Auckland? Because there's a whole lot of votes there I'm told and politicians seem to be receptive to a lot of voters.The question is about the shift in funds to fill the gaps that my colleagues have identified once this bill comes into place. So I'd ask the Minister to give an assurance—an absolute assurance—that from commencement date there will be no shift in funding from projects or commitments and safety around the rest of the country just to fund the shortfall that this bill will create for Auckland.ANDY FOSTER (NZ First): I move That debate on this question now close.