Baldock Larry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Baldock Larry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:611;Page:8746] 
3.  
LARRY BALDOCK (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: Does he agree with the Minister of Transport’s statement to the Road Transport Forum yesterday that “The car … is behind unprecedented demand for funding which has not kept pace with vehicle use.”; if so does he have any plans for addressing this transport funding shortfall in next year’s budget? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance) 
:  
Yes as so often I agree with my colleague the Minister of Transport. A range of work is proceeding on how to fund future roading demands particularly in the Auckland region. 
Larry Baldock 
: Noting widespread public concern that the diversion of petrol excise tax revenue into the consolidated account is a key contributor to the transport funding shortfall has the Government completed its economic analysis into how this diversion can be justified as mentioned in reply to an oral question earlier this year; and when will the results of this analysis be released to the public? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The member may recall that before the last election the Automobile Association and other organisations released documentation that showed that if the Government was to recover the full cost of roading from excise duty then excise duty would have to be increased substantially. The so-called diversion into the Crown account I am afraid is a well-worn myth but a myth none the less. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Does the Minister support the use of network tolling and congestion pricing as methods to gain extra capital for new roading projects; if not why not? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Those issues are under consideration at the moment. It would be premature of me at this instance to give an indication of the likely outcome of that. 
Peter Brown 
: Noting the answer to the last question from Larry Baldock is the Minister telling this House that Government policy is framed around what the Automobile Association suggests or thinks or submits or do they do their independent assessments of various situations? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: No although the Government obviously takes considerable notice of what the Automobile Association says. The Automobile Association’s claims were based on Government documents. 
Deborah Coddington 
: Does he accept that the lack of investment in roading is a major constraint to economic development in this country; if so why will he not rapidly expedite legislation that would allow Auckland to urgently complete its motorways and stop squandering public money on railways and rail corridors? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Part of the answer to roading demand is also total demand management and reasonable alternatives to roading including rail. Were we to pass legislation right now if what I assume the member is referring to is public-private partnerships firstly it is far from clear how many of the Auckland roads would qualify in a commercial sense especially as the costs continue to escalate—[ 
Interruption 
] None? Well the member says so; I shall take her word on it. Secondly of course none of those roads are ready for construction immediately as far as I understand it. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Does the Minister recall the British attempt to match traffic growth and funding dollar for kilometre known as “Maggie Thatcher’s Great Car Economy” which failed spectacularly to deliver anything other than traffic jams and does he agree that current balanced transport policy that looks at infrastructure needs alternatives to roading and demand management is a far more sensible approach? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Yes I do although I do confess that I do not anticipate seeing all Aucklanders cycling or walking to work within the foreseeable future. 
Larry Baldock 
: Can the Minister confirm in relation to a question asked earlier this year that the Government was undertaking some economic analysis as to the justification for money coming from the petrol excise tax and into the consolidated account? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: It is the Crown account. We have not had a consolidated account for many years although people continue to use that term. Yes work has been done and all the conclusions from the work that I am aware of are that there is no case to be made that substantial diversion is in fact occurring. The Government does not recover the full economic costs of the roading system—a point of course that Tranz Rail has made in a different context. 
Larry Baldock 
: Can the Minister let us know when that information and analysis may be made available to the public so they can also have the benefit of the work that has been done? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I will consult my colleague the Minister of Transport and come back to the member. 
Peter Brown 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I ask the Minister to say that he will come back not only to the member. As other members are interested in this issue I ask the Minister to come back to everybody. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is not really a point of order but the Minister might like to comment. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I would be happy to try to make the information available to all members.