Brown Simeon; O'Connor GregSecond ReadingHon SIMEON BROWN (Minister of Transport): I move That the Land Transport (Clean Vehicle Discount Scheme Repeal) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. I move that this bill be read a second time and I commend it to the House. I've just been listening to the debate from the members opposite who have been trying to tell this House how amazing the scheme was but they don't have an answer to one of the key questions here: how are they going to pay for it? There's a $300 million hole that has been created by that Government—$300 million hole created by that Government—of rebates being paid out over the top of taxes being collected and they have no answers as to how they're going to pay for it. That is just—Hon Tama Potaka: Show me the money.Hon SIMEON BROWN: Show us the money. They don't know where the money is coming from and it just shows the New Zealand public how much they don't care when it comes to fiscal responsibility. That is why on 14 October New Zealanders voted for the National Party the ACT Party and the New Zealand First Party to get this country back on track to fix the fiscal situation facing New Zealand. And this is only one of many fiscal holes left behind by the last Government.So as I outlined in my first speech on the first reading of this piece of legislation the amount paid out in rebates has been $579 million $13.5 million to administer the scheme while only $290 million has been received from charges leaving a hole of $302.5 million for taxpayers—hard-working taxpayers—to foot the bill. I ask the members opposite when they make their next speeches: what would their plan be if they were to keep this? Would they be increasing the taxes even further on utes? Is that the option they'd be taking? Is that the option they'd be picking? Scott Willis: Yes.Hon SIMEON BROWN: Would they say Oh no we're going to"—the Greens say yes. The Greens are very keen on more taxes on utes. They want to tax our farmers and tradies. They hate the farmers. The Greenies hate the farmers. They want our farmers gone. That is exactly what the Green Party wants. They hate our farmers here in New Zealand. They hate the productive part of our economy which is absolutely appalling. On this side of the House we back our farmers in New Zealand. That's why we're passing a range of policies to help support our farmers here in New Zealand.So what they'd do—well the Greens they'd increase the ute tax. They think what $10000 $20000 for a ute tax? They'd probably go higher. The Labour Party—would they reduce the electric vehicle subsidy which would make the scheme more ineffective or would they just say "We'll put more taxpayer funding into it"? Well I'm sorry to tell the Labour Party but they have left the Government books in an absolute mess. But their answer would be to borrow more money—borrow more money from future generations to subsidise people who can already afford to buy these cars and who will continue to buy these cars and who don't need a subsidy. That would be the choice that the Labour Party would be facing.On this side of the House we see this as a fiscally irresponsible scheme. It is inequitable for our farmers our tradies people with larger families needing to buy larger cars to be able to transport their children to and from school and do the things that they need to do. We actually think this scheme needs to go and that is what this piece of legislation does.But we're also confident that there will continue to be an increased uptake of electric vehicles in New Zealand and that is because car manufacturers around the world are switching from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles and hybrids and other low-emission technology. Battery technology is continuing to advance rapidly and at pace and those are the types of vehicles which will be imported to New Zealand and the choices will be made available to New Zealanders. We are confident that that uptake will continue and we will support that uptake by continuing to invest in the electric vehicle charging network which New Zealanders need to have the confidence to be able to buy these vehicles to be able to get past the range anxiety which is one of the biggest inhibitors for people actually purchasing an electric vehicle. And we're going to supercharge that investment by supporting the private sector through deregulation where there is regulation with barriers which get in the way by providing support to ensure that we can actually get that supercharging going.That is what the role of Government is to do: invest in the infrastructure that we need rather than just in subsidies and cash being paid out—Grant McCallum: Ideology.Hon SIMEON BROWN: —which is the ideological approach—the failed ideological approach—of the former Government on the other side of the House.So this bill gives effect to what was committed to by the National Party ACT Party and New Zealand First Party in our coalition agreements. I acknowledge all of the coalition partners in their support and I thank them for their support so far in the passage through this House and their continued support as we progress this legislation through the House and I commend it to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The question is that the motion be agreed."