Brown Simeon; O'Connor GregThird ReadingHon SIMEON BROWN (Minister of Transport): I move That the Land Transport Management (Repeal of Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.Tonight is a great night for Aucklanders and it's a great day for Aucklanders because we are repealing the Auckland regional fuel tax which was imposed by the former Government.Hon Tama Potaka: Gone by midnight.Hon SIMEON BROWN: It'll be gone by midnight tonight. This bill will remove the previous Labour Government's 11.5c per litre Auckland regional fuel tax and this bill will do so on 1 July 2024. This bill is part of our 100-day plan and what a great 100 days it has been for the new coalition Government. This bill is delivering on our coalition commitment to introduce legislation to remove the regional fuel tax and I want to thank my colleagues in the National Party but also our coalition support partners from the ACT Party and also the New Zealand First Party for their support in bringing this bill through the House. It's something we campaigned on and it's something we're delivering. It might sound radical to members opposite but we campaigned on getting rid of the regional fuel tax. Aucklanders overwhelmingly voted—over 55 percent of Aucklanders—for the coalition Government and here we are today delivering on our promises.There are a number of reasons why we are removing the regional fuel tax: firstly because it will save Aucklanders money as they fill up their cars from 1 July this year: $5 to $10 per tank. If you've got a Toyota Corolla it's 5 bucks—Dan Bidois: That's not insignificant.Hon SIMEON BROWN: —and if you drive a Toyota Hilux that's 10 bucks. As my colleague from Northcote says that is not insignificant. That will make a meaningful difference to Aucklanders.Secondly this bill will ensure that no future regional fuel taxes can be put in place. We are getting rid of the regional fuel tax regime that the last Government put in place—it's gone-burger".Thirdly we will ensure that the remaining funds are spent on high-priority projects. There is over $340 million of unspent revenue. The last Government said "We need this money to spend on major projects to get Auckland moving." Mill Road: they said that Mill Road would be a high-priority project. Well guess how that's gone! It's been cancelled more times than it was started under the last Government. There's hundreds of millions of dollars unspent. Over two years' worth of regional fuel tax revenue has been taken from hard-working Aucklanders at the pump and not even spent but we're going to ensure that those remaining funds are spent on high-priority projects. The Eastern Busway the electric trains and stabling and local roading corridor improvements—those are priorities and it's not going to be spent on what the last Government thought were priorities. They thought that we should tax Aucklanders more to build speed bumps. Speed bumps—$490000 speed bumps—that's why they wanted to tax Aucklanders more and red light cameras: they wanted to take another 11.5c a litre off Aucklanders to put red light cameras in. The other thing they wanted to do was speed management plans to slow Aucklanders down. That was the priority of the last Government and it's not the priority of this Government. We want to get Auckland moving quickly and safely and that's going to be our priority. We released our Government policy statement this week which highlights and clarifies and sets a very clear direction around transport investment for New Zealanders going forward.The National Government the coalition Government our support partners—I thank them for their support. We're very proud to bring this legislation to the House. We know it will make a difference to Aucklanders filling up their cars. We know we'll make sure those remaining funds are put on high-priority projects. We're going to stop the dumb stuff the last Government was doing. We're going to get transport back on track in Auckland. I commend the bill to the House. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The question is the motion be agreed to."