Stanford EricaERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I stand tonight to oppose the Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill. This is quite simply poor rushed legislation. It makes a mockery of the Auckland Council's current feedback. The legislation has very interesting timing. On the one hand we have Auckland Council who are asking Aucklanders to have their say. They've got a fancy website. It's called AK Have Your Say"—it's a great little rhyming website there. They outline their proposed plans for a 10c per litre regional fuel tax over 10 years. They have a little animated video that you can watch with a snappy little jingle. They also have another video that's got some little vox pops from people who say what they'd like to see and then you're asked to have your say: do you support it do you not support it or something else. On the other hand we have this legislation enabling a regional fuel tax for 10c a litre plus GST for 10 years. Ha! Well that sounds very familiar. Isn't that exactly what Auckland Council are proposing and asking Aucklanders to have their say on? So why are we introducing legislation to give Auckland Council exactly what they're consulting on with the public right now? One could deduce from this that this decision between the two Phils has already been made. It sounds like "AK Have Your Say" should have been "AK Our Way or the Highway". Maybe it's purely coincidental. Maybe it's purely coincidental that these two things are happening at the same time but the most obvious answer is usually the one that is the most obvious. You wouldn't be dreaming if you think that this bill is predetermining the outcome of council consultation. So I'm really sorry to all of those people who've headed along to "AK Have Your Say" and have watched the snazzy videos and listened to the snazzy jingles and who took time out of their day to fill in the feedback forms. It may well have been for no reason at all because if someone opposes this fuel tax on the website—I hate to break it to them—it ain't looking good. If they thought that the council should be reining in their costs instead of increasing taxes and putting in place this regional fuel tax—sorry mate. This legislation is completely arse about face. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! ERICA STANFORD: That's been said 130 times in the House. I checked before I wrote it. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): It doesn't matter. I'm still calling you to order. ERICA STANFORD: Thank you. The most important thing here is that nothing in this legislation shows where the money will be spent. That is the single most concerning thing or one of the two most concerning things: which projects should be prioritised? Without knowing any of the projects Aucklanders are being asked to have their say on a regional fuel tax and we're here tonight to legislate for that regional fuel tax to fund projects that nobody has any information about. On this snazzy little vox pop video that Auckland Council have up on their website people say things like—these are direct quotes from them; they could be actors but they seem to be real people—"If they use the money to build more cycleways I can cycle to work." "We need trains and trams running 24 hours more frequent buses and trains." and "Have your say." But the point is we don't know which projects are going to be funded through this regional tax. We're being asked to sign a blank cheque that isn't made out to anyone. The funds collected may very well go to pay for a tram through the Prime Minister's electorate. From the perspective of the people in the East Coast Bays that I represent this is very concerning. The people in my electorate have felt for a very long time that they have been neglected by Auckland Transport while work on roads trains and other public transport systems are invested in around the city. We have a load of projects that require urgent attention including the Glenvar Road realignment project which I'm currently fighting for. You can go to to sign a submission form. While on the face of it a regional fuel tax may sound reasonable we don't actually know which projects are going to go ahead and which ones are going to be prioritised. So for the people in my electorate looking at this and thinking it sounds reasonable I say to them that you are quite likely signing a blank cheque and may well get nothing out of this. Marja Lubeck talked about the peninsula in her electorate—another perfect example of my point. Simeon Brown: It's not her electorate. ERICA STANFORD: No it's not her electorate—that's true—but it's the electorate that she stood in. The point is that Penlink has been talked about for years. It's not something that accidentally came up under the National Government. For nine years before that it was talked about under the Labour Government and they didn't do anything either. So it's very rich. Another really important—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I apologise to the member. Your time has expired."