Doocey MattMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): Madam Speaker I am seeking a call in person. It's a privilege to rise and discuss this bill on behalf of the National Party because I think it's fair to say that at first blush yes we support it—ultimately anything that will reduce costs to New Zealanders in a time of cost of living crisis. But let's not forget that it's not rose tinted. Labour does not like people who drive cars.The whole point of the road-user charge is for that charge to go into transport infrastructure. And of course if you do have a car whether it be petrol or diesel you would like roads to drive your car on. This Labour Government will not build roads. And so any relief to hard-working commuters—especially those in regional New Zealand and South Island New Zealand who are sick of their road-user charges being siphoned off to pay for pet public transport projects in Auckland. So how good is it that New Zealanders and especially regional New Zealanders—because let's not forget: on one hand they give it back but another they take it away because a lot of regional New Zealanders are getting a double whammy with the ute tax that's just been brought in.So when you look at the explanatory note on this bill—we hear about international pressures and international drivers but where I'd like to start with is Infometrics economist Brad Olsen saying Inflation isn't an offshore problem that New Zealand is caught up in." Because we know on this side of this House what the response was from this Government. It was in fact a gentleman by the name of Christopher Luxon the Leader of the National Party who on a Sunday clearly outlined in his state of the nation speech the cost of living crisis that was going on for many New Zealanders. On this side of the House we listen. We get out of our offices and talk to hard-working New Zealanders.Hon Members: Ha ha!MATT DOOCEY: And they laugh. But of course on the Monday after that Sunday the Prime Minister was on The AM Show looking down the barrel of a camera and she couldn't bring herself to say the word "crisis". Then what happened? There was a poll.Hon Member: Oh that's right!MATT DOOCEY: That's right. And all of a sudden there was a flap. And of course the top minds of the Labour caucus got together—there wouldn't have been many of them—and they said "What are we going to do?" And all of a sudden they dreamed up: "Oh maybe there is a crisis going on."Hon Paul Goldsmith: They consult Helen White.MATT DOOCEY: I'd like to acknowledge Helen White. It's good to see the backbenchers finally speaking up and talking about what they're hearing from the people that vote their constituents. And so what we had in this bill and it's clearly outlined in the explanatory note where they talk about international drivers—but what we know on this side of the House is that in fact it's actually this Labour Government splashing the cash. Because of course what we know is in the last quarter of last year domestic inflation was higher than international inflation. So it's domestic inflation that's driving this cost of living crisis in New Zealand. So yes it is good we're giving New Zealanders a relief in petrol excise tax and quite rightly a corresponding relief here in road-user charges (RUCs). But I would have some caution because—why don't we trust people who are purchasing RUCs? There's a big emphasis here that we need some system to supervise them because of course as the Minister says we don't want people stockpiling. Are there any monitors on the forecourts at the moment monitoring whether petrol users are stockpiling the petrol they're buying? No.But of course in this bill we're going to enact—oh what was it called? A RUC monitor?Hon Member: That's right.MATT DOOCEY: Yes.Hon Member: A clipboard and white coat.MATT DOOCEY: That's right. Because what we know in New Zealand is we need more bureaucrats in Wellington don't we. Here we go—a RUC monitor who's going to assess whether the hard-working diesel owners are doing the right thing. And what I would say is that here we are under urgency spending the time of the House—at great cost and resource—passing this bill. Yes the end result will be good for hard-working New Zealanders. But as my learned colleague Simeon Brown quite rightly pointed out it pretty much saves three or four days. That's the reality at the moment.As my great friend and learned colleague from Invercargill Penny Simmonds would say this Government couldn't even run a bath. These guys can't deliver. They got caught out—policy on the hoof. And I say well done to New Zealanders who actually exercised their democratic right and said in fact that if were to have an election tomorrow we wouldn't vote these guys back in. They said they'd vote National back in. You know why? Because we listen to New Zealanders—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! I do invite the member to come more closely to the bill. [Interruption] And I don't need any help thank you. While I note that under the general policy statement the policy goal is to offset some of the price increases through reducing road taxes that is a relatively narrow general policy statement. Context is important I understand that but I do invite all members to stick within the context of the bill.MATT DOOCEY: Thank you very much for that clarification. And as we talked about with our transport spokesperson Simeon Brown there are some questions we do want to ask around this draft legislation as it is going through urgency especially around the principle of backdating. So we have heard from one Labour MP—Greg O'Connor—who talked about the ability for an overlap licence. But it would be good to interrogate this further and we will get the ability to do this in the committee of the whole House stage because of course we won't have a select committee process to go through to hear from heavy vehicle users. I'm quite happy to be wrong if the Minister can correct me but I thought the overlap licence was only for heavy vehicles. So what will happen for light vehicles? I think that is something that we'll be able to look at at further readings as well. Is there a cost for an overlap licence? As we've said on this side of the House we are going to support the bill but it's incumbent on us to ensure that we do interrogate the drafting of this bill to ensure the words on the bill are the best fit for New Zealanders. Because what we know is when we look at diesel users I would argue they are some of the best and hard-working New Zealanders around. God bless diesel car users and this is what we are here to support. Sorry.Hon Member: Diesel turbo.MATT DOOCEY: That's right diesel turbo. All right. I've got the feeling there's going to be a few stories coming up around first diesel cars. Mine was the Hilux Surf a very good vehicle I must say.Hon Member: Still got it.MATT DOOCEY: No no I haven't got that. I've upgraded to the Toyota RAV4 family car but that's OK. Things in life change. I'm sure you can appreciate that Madam Speaker.Look overall we want to support this bill because we want hard-working New Zealanders to have more money in their back pocket. But ultimately as parliamentarians we want to make sure this bill isn't an overreach as well. I've got some real concerns about what is the role what are the powers what are the delegations of a RUC collector in this situation and what are we signing up to to allow them to be unleashed on our many hard-working diesel driving New Zealanders. Thank you Madam Speaker."