Robertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 27 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4026. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement “we would expect to be able to continue to expand the use of user charges”; if so what further user charges will he introduce?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Associate Minister of Finance) on behalf of theMinister of Finance: Yes in the context it was made. The Government is not actively looking to identify further user charges. However there may be occasional instances that arise where it is fairer that the users of a service pay for it rather than taxpayers—such as the biosecurity and customs clearance charge on international passengers introduced as part of the Budget.Grant Robertson: Will he rule out user charges in the health sector?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: There are absolutely no plans for new user-charges in the health sector. I think we could go on this all afternoon Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The question has been answered.Grant Robertson: Is the $150 million telecommunications development levy passed under urgency last Friday a user charge given that Spark one of the country’s biggest telecommunications providers announced within an hour of the bill’s introduction in the House that it was passing the levy on to consumers?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: It was actually announced at the last election and was campaigned on at the last election and was already in place. For Spark to suggest that it is going to pass it on in terms of an increase suggests that it is not passing it on already because it is already being charged. But actually on this side of the House we think it is a good idea to have a levy across the whole network to maintain—Grant Robertson: Is it a user charge?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: —shh Grant. And—Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a direct question and the Minister has failed to answer the question as to whether it is a user charge.Mr SPEAKER: The difficulty is that it was not a direct question. If the member had simply asked—and I think the way forward is that I am going to give him an additional supplementary question. If the question had been simply “Is it a user charge?” then he might have got an answer but when the member took the opportunity to include a Spark announcement etc. that then gave the Minister the opportunity to use that as part of his answer. I will allow the member an additional supplementary question.Grant Robertson: Is the $150 million telecommunications development levy passed under urgency last Friday a user charge?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The $150 millionextension of the telecommunications development levy over 3 years is a user charge and it is a user charge across the whole of the network to encourage the development of the periphery of the network which is the rural areas that would otherwise not get good telecommunications development. This Government is in favour of telecommunications extensions and broadband extensions in rural areas.Grant Robertson: Does he think that New Zealanders who are now paying more to travel more for their broadband and more if they sell their houses will think that they are paying a user charge or that they are just paying new taxes from a Government that said “No new taxes.”?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: They will think that they are paying a user charge. Firstly the telecommunications development levy is already in place. They will not be paying anything more no matter what the mouthpiece for Spark on that side of the House says. That is not going to happen. The second thing is that I think New Zealanders can make a very clear distinction between user charges and increases in for example income taxation—as regularly promised by the Labour Party—or indeed means testing of superannuation.Grant Robertson: Does he agree with his National Party colleague Ian McKelvie that people-smuggling and the movement of sheep are much the same; if so will any sheep that need to be returned from the dodgy deal with the Saudi farm be forced to pay his border arrivals tax when they come back?Mr SPEAKER: In as far as there is ministerial responsibility the Hon Steven Joyce.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I am sure Grant sat up all last night to try to do that one but it is just too tortuous to actually require an answer.