Brown SimeonClause 4 Amendments to Road User Charges Act 2012CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members we come now to the final debate: clause 4 Amendments to Road User Charges Act 2012". The question is that clause 4 stand part. Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): Thank you Madam Chair. I asked the Minister three questions earlier and he said he would answer them in clause 4 so we look forward to his answer. The questions are: he said that temporary means temporary but does that mean three months or does that mean a longer temporary time than three months? The second question is: where would the funding come from if it is longer than three months? The third question is: what projects will be cut if there is not hypothecation funding after three months?SIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Chair and thank you for the opportunity to speak on this clause of the bill. I want to bring the debate back here to the question I asked the Minister earlier in relation to this temporary reduction which won't begin until 21 April 2022. That's still about 16 days away from this bill being passed tonight. The question I want to have answered is: why is this temporary reduction which is being passed in urgency through Parliament tonight—why will road users out there who have diesel vehicles still have to wait another 16 days before they can get a reduction? I've been through this time frame a number of times tonight but effectively by passing this bill tonight the Minister is simply bypassing the provisions in the bill by four days. He's reducing the time frame for the reduction of a road-user charge (RUC) by four days. Now I think for most people out there they would sort of be scratching their head and wondering whether this Government had actually thought about the implications of their announcement when they announced this on 14 March and I think the reality is that most New Zealanders realise that they didn't. So I've got a tabled amendment which will fix that. It will bring the new rates in on the day after this bill receives Royal assent. That'll be great news for taxpayers and people who need to purchase their new RUC. They'll be able to get this reduction much much sooner than this Government is willing to do which is still another 16 days away. The second question I have is following on from my colleague Hon David Bennett. It is a question around the potential extension of these temporary reductions and I think this is a very important question because from what I understand from reading this bill is this bill allows for the Minister to effectively shorten or extend the temporary reduction period to a date specified in the order. Now that is quite concerning by the fact that not only could there be—well I mean it could be good news for consumers that it could be extended but it could also be shortened. Does the Government have any intentions around actually reducing the time frame that they have promised? I imagine they haven't but what is their intention around extending that because I think New Zealanders should deserve some clarity around that and will that also apply to excise for fuel for petrol users for their vehicles? What are the implications around public transport and the announcements they've made around that as well? Look there are other questions which I think need to be asked around this as well in terms of the issue regarding the people who may have purchased RUC over the last three weeks since the announcement was made and how that works—I think my colleague Matt Doocey made a number of questions during his contributions—and some clarity around how that will work for heavy-vehicle users and also light-vehicle users; what the cost of the licence—I think it's the overlap licence—will be and what percentage of their savings will be used up in actually paying the administration fee and whether the Government has actually considered waiving that fee during this three-month period to ensure that consumers aren't effectively having some of that benefit taken away from them by the fact that they may have to actually use that particular service in order to be able to benefit from what this legislation is doing. I look forward to the Minister's answers to those questions. Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): I thank the members for their questions. In respect to the questions that relate to the period of the reduction and the date of commencement of the reduction I would say a couple of things in response. The first is that when the Government made its announcements on 14 March they were on the basis of a three-month reduction applying across fuel excise duty (FED) road-user charges (RUC) and public transport reduced fares and that is what is being provided for in this bill. The date of commencement of 21 April allows Waka Kotahi as the collector to establish its systems to ensure that that runs out very smoothly. It's important to note that there is no disadvantage to RUC users here because they still get a three-month reduction which is comparable to the three-month reduction that FED users get. Also the overlap provisions—which have been canvassed in debate already—mean that people who purchase RUC licences in the period beforehand have the opportunity to also obtain benefit during this three-month period so there is no particular disadvantage there. I note that Mr Brown's amendment on this issue has a significant flaw and would create an inconsistency in that it brings forward the date with no consideration to the fact that the collector has to set up its systems to run it smoothly. But notwithstanding that this would create an inconsistency because it would give a greater benefit to people getting the lower RUC rate than people who get the lower FED rate which has been set for three months. In respect of Mr David Bennett's questions the bill as it stands establishes a three-month period and that is what the Government intends for at this point. But it provides an ability through Order in Council to extend that if the Government believes that is justified but the Government has not made any decision in that respect at this stage. What the Government has done has been to back the reductions to FED and RUC with $350 million to ensure that Waka Kotahi continues to have the same level of funding that it enjoyed were these reductions not to be in place."