Guy Nathan: Land Transport Management Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Guy Nathan: Land Transport Management Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:648;Page:17219] 
NATHAN GUY (National) 
: 
 What a week it has been for the Government. Let us just think about this week. Government members have come to Wellington and launched KiwiRail but we still cannot get them to front up and say how much the Government has paid for it. The people of Canterbury might be impressed with the colours red and black but when people are struggling to get food on the table and to pay the second-highest interest rates in the Western World the Government is splashing out on this investment and we still cannot identify how much it has cost the hard-working New Zealand taxpayer. Our finance spokesperson Bill English has tried to ask the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance how much it has cost New Zealand taxpayers but they still cannot front up and tell us. 
Then this week there has been another increase of 2c a litre on the price of petrol at the pump as a result of accident compensation levies. Since the Government came into office in 2000 it has increased the accident compensation petrol levy from 2.3c to 9.3c a litre over that time. This increase will put another $120 million into the Government coffers. It is now costing people who are filling up at the pump every week over $100 to fill the average-sized car and they are wondering where their money is going when they consider all the wastage on the growth in bureaucracy that this Government has endorsed over the last 8 years. 
Do members know what has also happened to cap off a bad week for the Government? Road-user charges are going up by 7 to 15 percent and there was no consultation for those road-user transport operators. As a result the highways into our major cities will be clogged and congested in the morning. What an embarrassment that will be to the transport Minister Annette King because she did not consult. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: They’ve had a gutsful. 
NATHAN GUY 
: These truckies have had an absolute gutsful. They are going to meet in my area tomorrow at MacKays Crossing. I have been invited there to address them. All these transport operators who are fired up will be meeting at MacKays Crossing at half-past 6 and they are going to gridlock the highway—which I think is an embarrassment. They are doing that because the Government has given up on them—it is not listening and it does not care—and transport operators are saying that that is pathetic. So productivity tomorrow in our major cities will be slowed down. Right now people are leaving the city and telling their employers that they probably will not see them tomorrow; they probably will not see them in at work because the highways will be congested. That is because this Government has not consulted with these trucking operators and those Government members should hang their heads in shame. 
Let us look at the Land Transport Management Amendment Bill because we support some of its provisions. One of those examples is the hypothecation—that is the moving of all the petrol tax that is collected into roading; we know that we need to do more. But the big thing we are opposed to in this bill is councils being allowed to put another fuel tax on motorists when motorists are already hurting at the pump. Why would the Government want to do that right now when people are paying hugely just to fill up and get to work or take the kids to school. I cannot understand that. Sure we have to invest in our projects but we should just look at the wastage. 
The example I give people when I am out and talking to people in my region—and Chris Finlayson will know because he travels up and down from Mana quite regularly—is what has happened to the area in Plimmerton commonly known as the T2 lanes. It is just a section of road that is about 1.5 kilometres long which Transit did not design very well from the start. It has been open for 3 years but do members know what Transit has been doing? This is a clearway area; it is open for certain periods of time then closed for others so that residents can park their cars in front of their homes. But most of them are petrified to do that now because there have been some nose-to-tail accidents there and residents are not parking in the clearway. So this is an example of wastage from this Government. A section of State highway has not been designed properly. And do members know what has happened? Transit has had guys standing there with video cameras taking imagery of whether vehicles coming through have a driver and a passenger. Then they have collected the data and sent out warning notices. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Oh you’re kidding. 
NATHAN GUY 
: Yes they have sent out warning notices. They have sent out 8000 warning notices saying: “You’ve been a very naughty driver. You’re operating in the wrong lane. You should be travelling in the other one.” There is so much confusion. And do members know what? They have had three reports—three reports—on this 1.5 kilometre section of road. It has cost $500000. It has cost the taxpayer half a million just to do reports and administrate costs for those guys in their fluorescent jackets. The point I am trying to make for the benefit of those listening in the congestion of the traffic getting out to the Kapiti Coast now is that this legislation in terms of a regional fuel tax is not needed right now. It might be needed in the future but right now motorists are hurting. There is no way they can afford to pay another 3c 8c or 10c a litre when they are sitting in congestion and seeing all the wastage in some of those examples that I have put in front of the House this evening. 
So National is opposed to this bill. There are some good parts in it but we are extremely opposed to the regional fuel tax right now when motorists are hurting.