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:10369. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): I have been looking forward to having an opportunity to speak on the title and commencement clauses of the Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill. The first alternative title that I would like to offer is the “Fuel Tax for Funding a Fanciful Surplus Bill”. As members have said a number of times essentially what this bill is about is making sure that the Government can just squeak past its plans to make a surplus. Really I think it is entirely disingenuous of the Government to try to suggest to New Zealanders through the title that we have that this is somehow about funding transport infrastructure—even to suggest that it is about funding broad transport infrastructure. What we know is that on current projections a simple fuel tax increase aligned to CPI would be enough to do all that this Government wants to do. It could build all the roadsthat it wanted to without having to bring this fuel tax increase in but what it needs of course is money right now so that it can meet its Budget surplus.You might have noticed there is a little bit of alliteration in that title. I know that another fan of alliteration is Dr Cam Calder. It is good to see Cam Calder in the Chamber now. He told medical students today that he could not be at a symposium that they were holding because he had an important speech to make to the House on the fuel excise tax bill and he would have to make that speech at 2 o’clock. The sum total of Cam Calder’s contribution to debate on this bill was at about quarter past 4 when he said: “I move that the question be now put.” That is the entire total contribution that Cam Calder made to this. But I know that Cam Calder would love an alliterative title to this bill like the “Fuel Tax for Funding a Fanciful Surplus Amendment Bill”.Another good name for this would be the “Taxing Middle New Zealand Bill” because that is what this bill actually does. It is part of the Government’s suite of measures to make up for its unaffordable income tax cuts that it gave to its mates because again it needs to get the country back into surplus. And because it gave away those unaffordable tax cuts for the rich—let us be honest; they were tax cuts for the rich—now the rest of New Zealand particularly middle New Zealand is having to make up for that by paying for these fuel tax increases.Another good title for this would be the “Fuel Tax (Leaving Out the Regions) Bill” because the Minister has said at every opportunity that what this bill is about is funding the Government’s roads of national significance—those roads of political significance that are all about the highways that run up the middle of the country. They are not about the regions. The National Government is not working for the regions. If it was it would have an integrated approach to its transport network and it would be funding those local roads like State Highway 3 for which Andrew Little has been advocating for so long; like the gravel roads in the Tararua District which the locals have told me personally they want to see upgraded so that they can get better productivity out of the logging that is about to come on stream; and like the alternative to the gold-plated highway—the Western Link Road—that could have been built on the Kāpiti coast. That is what the locals actually wanted but because this Government is not interested in what the regions want—because this Government is not at all interested in what the regions want—it is putting up taxes on everybody so that it can build its monuments to its 1950s approach to transport infrastructure.We could call this the “Plugging the Gap that Steven Joyce Created Bill” because what we know from reading through documents containing advice that the Minister of Transport has received is that Steven Joyce told the New Zealand Transport Agency to overspend. He deliberately told it to overspend on its roading budget so that there was pressure on the roading budget so that there was a call for additional funding and so that then the Government would have an excuse to bring in this extra tax. Why did it need an excuse to bring in this extra tax? So that it could get the Budget back into surplus. So this is plugging the gap that Steven Joyce created; that is what this bill is all about.Finally I would call this the “Taxing the Regions to Pay for Auckland Bill” because the Government has said “No no no.” to all the options for getting Auckland working and all the possible revenue options so that Aucklanders could pay their fair share of transport infrastructure in Auckland. If this Government does plan to do anything if this Government does plan to do anything at all in Auckland who is going to pay for it? It is going to be the people of Southland it is going to be the people of Hawke’s Bay and it is going to be the people of Manawatū.