McDowall JamesDr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party and in particular Simon Court my colleague and our transport spokesperson to speak on this bill. I know that Simon has done a tremendous amount of sector engagement and stakeholders are desperately trying to get their voices and concerns heard by the Government. In simple terms this bill introduces two interventionist policies. One introduces emissions standards to be imposed at the border and the other seeks to use subsidies to change consumer behaviour via a carrot-and-stick approach. There is an aim of somehow increasing supply from manufacturers offshore despite our lack of global competiveness and limited wholesale purchasing power.This is also a great bill as people have said for ensuring that older vehicles stay on our roads for significantly longer due to the disincentive for purchasing new—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! Order! Dr JAMES McDOWALL: —more fuel-efficient vehicles—SPEAKER: Sorry. The member has had her chance to have a speech. She may be being provoked but she doesn't have to react. Dr JAMES McDOWALL: Thank you Mr Speaker. I can finally hear myself! So this is also—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member was in the House earlier when I made it very clear to a senior member that one does not comment on Speakers' rulings: don't.Dr JAMES McDOWALL: Thank you Mr Speaker. This is also a great bill for ensuring that older vehicles stay on our roads for significantly longer due to the disincentive for purchasing new more fuel-efficient cars that have lower emissions. Due to the lack of supply importers have few if any options to change behaviour and avoid the costs between now and the late 2020s so it is simply a tax grab. So I went on the internet and I found this [Holds up picture] and I hope someone gets this reference. [Interruption] So—yeah very nice. That's the new Hyundai IONIQ 5 electric vehicle (EV) which I'm told arrived in my local dealership yesterday. It is good to hear that the three-month delay in getting deliveries of EVs seems to be improving for the time being at least for the lucky few. If you go for the long-range option which will make it about 70 percent of the way from Auckland to Wellington—which is really good I'll add but you still might want to make a bit of a weekend of it—it'll set you back just $10 shy of $90000. Now we've got nothing against EVs; they're forever improving and are a marvel of innovation and capitalism. After all the automotive manufacturing industry in North Korea doesn't produce a single EV. But given the nature of the automotive market we've got to be very careful about interventions and unintended consequences on supply and wholesale pricing not to mention the lack of fairness in making the less fortunate subsidise other people's fancy cars. Even Elon Musk the founder of Tesla—speaking of fancy cars—has spoken out against subsidies and their propensity for creating false prices in the market. These policies will have little bearing on the purchasing behaviour of the wealthiest New Zealanders but it will almost certainly drive up costs for lower-income families tradespersons and those in our rural communities who have few alternatives if any. It will also have no material impact on supply which is patchy at best. The costs of a new or used petrol diesel vehicle could increase by between $10000 to $15000 between now and 2027 and that's before any allowance for manufacturer price increases. EVs and low-emission vehicles incentivising demand with cash rebates when they are not even available to meet demand has already caused wholesale price increases in Japan. On Suzuki's website they state the following: From July 1st the Clean Car Discount programme will come into effect … Suzuki's affordable range of vehicles do not qualify for a rebate". I'll say that again: "Suzuki's affordable range of vehicles do not qualify for a rebate". I think this simple statement really highlights the Government's priorities here. If you want an affordable car you're going to get the stick. There is also a risk that the overall supply of EVs to New Zealand may be reduced for the next five to eight years as we compete with Australia for a relatively small number of vehicles available in the right-hand drive configuration as also used in Japan the UK and in many other countries. Manufacturers currently supply new vehicles from factories configured in the 2015 to 2020 period and those models will continue to be produced until around 2028 to 2030. Design for new production configurations is under way by manufacturers across the world with higher production of EVs due to enter the new vehicle market in greater volumes from the late 2020s. This means that second-hand EVs will be only available to New Zealand from those models from the mid-2030s around five to six years after they are sold as new.Regarding the emissions policy in this bill New Zealand has a hard cap on carbon emissions so these regulations will not reduce a single tonne of carbon that cannot be emitted somewhere else. Carbon emissions from petrol and diesel are already paid for at the point of production through the emissions trading scheme where units currently cost in the range of $53 to $75 per tonne of carbon emitted. This already adds between $9 to $11 to every tank of petrol or diesel. So New Zealand is on track to meet the climate commissioner's projection that a price of over $50 per tonne would incentivise New Zealand businesses to reach net zero carbon by 2050. The policy interventions in this bill will require a significant amount of Government regulation in administration and will impose a compliance time and costs to businesses. Government agencies will be required to administer the large rebate scheme alongside the Clean Car Standard at the border with powers to audit issue credits and fees for importers and requirements for record-keeping. The winners will be those high-income earners as I've said and the losers will be everyone else looking to get some wheels whether it's a highly fuel-efficient and low-emissions small car or a ute being used for legitimate or illegitimate purposes. So personally I think my daily drive which uses about 5 litres per 100 kilometres easily meets long-term carbon dioxide targets in Europe and Asia costs brand new about 30 percent of most EVs and even has an old-fashioned manual gearbox is still a perfectly reasonable car to purchase and drive in 2021. Innovation in the free market is wonderful but sadly technological advancements in the present day are often ignored. ACT is opposing this bill because it is a tax grab it is grossly unfair and is based on pie-in-the-sky thinking about the ability of manufacturers to supply the sheer quantity of EVs needed to achieve a rapid reduction in carbon dioxide emissions not to mention at a price point that makes it a reasonable option for everyday New Zealanders. Thank you Mr Speaker."