Joyce Steven: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Joyce Steven: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5344] 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 I move  
That the Road User Charges Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. I would like to thank members of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee for their prompt consideration of this short bill. This bill does two things: it enables the exemption of light electric motor vehicles from the requirement to pay road user charges and it ensures adequate notice of road user charges increases. 
The Government supports new technology as a means to bring about low-carbon transport. In the future as new technologies emerge and more vehicles become less reliant on traditional fossil fuels we will need to give further consideration as to how we recover the cost of those vehicles using the roading network. It is important that all road users pay the costs they impose on the roading network. That is the principle of the user-pays system we have and it is implicit in the hypothecation of road revenues. This bill deals with one new technology that is available now: vehicles able to run wholly or partly on electricity. Having electric vehicles in our fleet has advantages. They are more efficient and they are cheaper to run than conventional vehicles. They will reduce our need to import fossil fuels and increase the security of our transport and electricity systems against energy disruptions while maintaining personal mobility. They produce little or no toxic emissions and they have the potential to substantially reduce transport greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately for the time being those vehicles are expensive. 
This bill proposes a practical means to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles a goal announced by the Government in 2007. In her first reading speech on this bill Jeanette Fitzsimons commented: “we are asking all road users—rich poor and unemployed—to pay the road-user charges for those who can afford to buy electric vehicles.” and that she would be “very concerned if the subsidy were to go longer than the 4 years that is proposed.” That is one reason why the 4c per kilometre exemption from paying road-user charges for light electric motor vehicles is to be transitional and limited in duration. The Government’s intention is that exemption will expire at the end of June 2013 at which point the initiative will be reconsidered. Several submitters on the bill pointed out that when the exemption expires plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be subject to both road-user charges and fuel excise duty for the petrol they use. This is a matter that will be addressed before the expiry of the exemption in 2013. 
It is only reasonable to give notice of increases to road-user charges. These charges are a significant cost for commercial transport operators. This bill proposes to give 6 weeks’ notice of increases to charges as recommended by the Road User Charges Review Group and supported by submitters to the select committee. The problem in the past with giving notice was the loss of revenue through large-scale pre-purchasing of road-user charges at cheaper rates. This bill proposes a tidy and neat solution to that problem. It provides that road-user charges licences for heavy vehicles expire 1 month after an increase comes into effect. Licences for lighter vehicles would not expire early. I will take this opportunity to respond to questions about the expiry of heavy vehicle licences raised by the previous Minister of Transport the Hon Annette King in her first reading speech on the bill. She asked how this requirement would work and what it would cost to administer. The fact is that in a normal course of events most operators of heavy vehicles purchase their licences on a weekly or fortnightly basis so they will be largely unaffected by the expiry of licences 1 month after the fee changes. Refunds of road-user charges for unused kilometres will be available for those who need to purchase a new licence that overlaps with an old licence. Customers in that situation will be credited their refund at the time of the purchase of the new licence. No one will need to actually apply for any refunds because they will be automatically provided at the time the new licence is purchased. No additional administrative costs for the expiry and refund process are expected. 
The Hon Annette King also asked about avenues for trucking firms in particular to rort the system and what leakage of revenue could result. Quite simply there will be no additional avenues for firms to take advantage of the system because this proposal is closing down an opportunity currently in place. Yes there will still be the ability for heavy vehicle owners to buy licences 1 month ahead and some may alter their purchasing practices to do that for that month. That behaviour will be monitored. It can be accounted for in future increases if necessary. I also point out that the licence expiry provision is a reinstatement of a similar provision that was repealed in 2002. It was repealed because of the burden of transaction costs administrative difficulties and inconvenience carried by the approximately 400000 light vehicle owners and the Government agencies involved in that relicensing. Therefore we are not seeking to provide for the expiry of truck licences for light vehicles in the same way as we are for heavy vehicles. The benefits in terms of lower administrative costs of road-user licensing continuing for light diesel vehicles exceed any expected revenue losses. 
There are a number of changes that I intend to make to streamline the road-user charging system. One of those is to put in place a systematic and predictable system for changes to the rates of road-user charges. Let us not forget that unlike fuel excise road-user licences are purchased in advance and those advance purchases come at a cost. That cost when combined with future streamlining of the charging system will put the system on a more businesslike footing. 
This bill deals with two specific issues relating to road-user charges. It was considered by the select committee on 23 July and no major issues arose from its consideration. I will be following the committee’s advice and submitting one minor wording change by way of a Supplementary Order Paper at the Committee stage. Again I thank the select committee and the officials for their work on the bill. The bill will help encourage electric vehicles on to our roads resulting in cleaner and quieter streets lower fuel bills and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. The bill also provides a transparent notification system for increases to road-user charges while safeguarding the revenue that is used to maintain and develop this country’s roading system. This is a good bill and I commend it to the House.