Logie JanJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It's with great pleasure that I rise to take a call on behalf of the Green Party in the third reading of the Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill 2018.This is the first step in tackling Auckland's congestion crisis. Every time I go up to Auckland which is quite often I have a conversation with somebody who is complaining about the traffic—and it's not me that initiates those conversations might I say. People in Auckland are frustrated. They are spending so much of their lives stuck in cars. That's time they could be spending with their families or out in nature or doing something that feeds their soul. That's time and money that they could be using on other things. So the Greens welcome this bill as the first step to be able to return to those people their time and their money.As we all know Auckland is at a standstill and we really get the frustration of the ratepayers and citizens who are spending all those hours stuck in traffic. The Aucklanders I talk to want action and they want it quickly. Yes they've been hearing for years the acknowledgment that there might be a problem but they haven't seen any action to solve that problem until this Government. This is one of those things that in terms of congestion affect so many things. We know that binding people to cars to get around has a really significant and negative impact on people's health—their physical and their mental health. It contributes to air pollution it ruins people's work-life balance and family time and it's a significant drain on productivity as well. So it could even be described as a handbrake on the New Zealand economy when it is so bad in our major city.The Employers and Manufacturers Association Auckland International Airport Infrastructure New Zealand Ports of Auckland Ltd and the National Road Carriers association all got together to look at this and they commissioned New Zealand Institute of Economic Research to conduct a report into the costs of congestion to try and really make that case for Government to act. They found that congestion in the city between 2015 and 2017 is estimated to have cost the economy $1.3 billion a year in lost productivity. I'll just repeat that again: $1.3 billion a year in lost productivity. It's a lot of money. If Auckland traffic could move on average from 50.5 and 56.8 kilometres an hour during weekdays it would benefit the Auckland economy by nearly $3.5 million a day. If we can get our largest city moving there is very very real return for all of us in doing that.We just can't afford to continue to waste this amount of money each and every year. The cost of doing nothing has been incurred for too long. This bill is a down payment on our Government's commitment to building a modern transport system and backing it with funding. I've heard discussion from the other side of the House in these speeches this evening about But what about the roads? What about the roads?" I really just want to say that that is the 1950s solution to congestion. The contemporary solution is public transport walking and cycling and that is what this Government has as a vision and that this bill is part of enabling.One of the biggest challenges our country faces is to help our high-growth cities particularly Auckland to be able to deal with the increased population. Without much greater investment in good forms of transport which help drive the form of a city we will never reduce the crippling effects of chronic congestion. When I heard from those other speakers "But the roads but the roads but the roads …" I did want to call to them the saying "Build it and they will come." That is what tends to happen and we want those people to come on to the public transport and on to their bikes and on to their feet in a safe way. We don't want them to come in more numbers in their cars on to our roads—and that is the typical pattern: you build the roads and people come and those roads congest all over again. We've surely surely learnt that lesson from years of experience.Now is the time for a modern vision that encompasses well-being and health and strong communities and time with families and improved productivity—the vision supported by public transport walking and cycling. We know that we can't invest at the level needed if we're going to rely on this year's tax take through the National Land Transport Programme; there isn't enough money in the fund. Even if there were there wouldn't be anything left over for the rest of the country. So while there are benefits for the whole country the primary benefit is to Auckland and it does seem appropriate for that to be funded through a regional fuel tax.We need to lift our level of ambition and invest in transport infrastructure to get ahead and this bill enables a region or unitary council to seek funding for specific transport-related capital projects. The Government has indicated that at this stage only Auckland will be able to apply to set a regional fuel tax and Aucklanders know they must contribute and pay their fair share if we're to tackle this problem.I would also just like to touch on some of the arguments that I've heard from the other side about this being regressive and being really tough for people with the lowest incomes. Well congestion costs are also regressive and we know that people in the south and in the west are spending a lot of time in their cars and that the best way to deal with the regressive cost of congestion is to invest in rapid transit. And this regional fuel tax will fund those projects across Auckland enabling people on low incomes to get around faster and quicker and in a more affordable way. So we're committed to striking the balance between affordability and taking urgent action on the transport infrastructure deficit that we've inherited.The combined effect of the Auckland regional fuel tax and the proposed increases for the fuel excise duty will cost the average family about $5 a week. That's more than supported by the on average $75 a week that most low-income families are going to get as part of the Families Package. So it's not like we're adding a cost and not ensuring that people get the money to be able to fund that cost. But we have to recognise that people in the way that the transport system is set up in Auckland at the moment are vulnerable. There have been studies done that show that areas without public transport are the most likely to have mortgagee sales. People's funding and house costs and ability to pay their rent and their mortgage are too reliant on the cost of petrol at the moment. We have to provide people with an alternative to be able to easily budget to be able to get around and that needs public transport. Making people car dependent actually builds the precariousness of their situation and we want to support security and health and well-being for all of our communities in Auckland so the Green Party supports this bill wholeheartedly as the first step to getting people communities and Auckland moving."