McNair Craig: Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
McNair Craig: Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:623;Page:18607] 
CRAIG McNAIR (NZ First) 
: 
 In speaking to this part the Minister the Hon Rick Barker said that this is a very simple part. But it is also a very bad part. This Government is not only collecting $6 billion in excess revenue and taxing New Zealanders to the hilt but also it is implementing tolls like in the Rodney area where I am based. Tolls anywhere are bad enough because they are just another excuse to tax New Zealanders twice but if that is not enough this Government wants to toll a main State highway in Rodney—the Albany to Puhoi realignment—as well as raise taxes on petrol after the election. 
New Zealand First says no to tolls and to the 5c increase in petrol tax. The National member Shane Ardern mentioned in his speech that since this Government came to power in 1999 it has brought in 24 new taxes. Out of those 24 new taxes this will be the fifth tax increase on motorists. That tax now stands at 18c per litre. 
I was on the Finance and Expenditure Committee that heard submissions on this Customs and Excise (Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill. The committee reported back: “Submitters generally expressed opposition to the increase in excise duty suggesting that the funding required should be provided from the duty currently allocated as general Crown revenue”. Only about half of the money collected from road users actually goes back into roads—we all know that. New Zealand First says that that is a disgrace. But New Zealand First does more than just say that and does more than United Future members who get up in the Chamber and say that the Government should decrease taxes and so on and that they would do this and that. However when they come into Parliament they do exactly the opposite. New Zealand First in our 1996 coalition agreement set the whole legislation in motion to start implementing that very view—of making sure that the money collected from road users actually went back into roading. 
This Government not only has a $6 billion surplus and is now tolling State highways and spending money on its pet projects but it is spending millions of dollars on policy advice—which is more than the Government needs to spend in a whole lot of portfolios. For example in the youth affairs portfolio which has spending power of only $11 million all up it is spending $1.3 million on policy advice. We in New Zealand First say that that is wrong. It is wrong that with the amount of money the Government is spending throwing all around the place and giving to its mates here and there it still has to go to hard-working New Zealand motorists Government supporters and take another 5c per litre from their pockets—as if they are not paying the Government enough in tax as it is. As I said when I spoke on Part 1 in the Committee stage a few minutes ago this Government will pay for that come the election in 6 or 7 months’ time. It will pay for that. 
I was very interested in what the Minister of Customs was saying just before I spoke. He said that this was democracy at work and representative government because we are actually debating it in Parliament. Well I say it is the last time we will debate it.