Peachey Allan: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Peachey Allan: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5485] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I was a member of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee which considered the Road User Charges Amendment Bill and reported it back to the House. It has taken me a long time to get a call but I am now grateful for the opportunity to make a contribution to the debate on Part 1. This part is one of two distinct amendments that the Government is making to the Road User Charges Act 1977. 
I will take a moment to reflect on some of the things that have been said by Opposition members particularly by Opposition members who were members of the select committee. The committee’s consideration of the bill was careful thoughtful and timely yet members of the Opposition who sat on the committee now come into the House and somehow want to squeal that they did not have an opportunity to discuss matters there that they now want to discuss in the Committee. It is quite legitimate for members opposite to raise some of the things they have raised in this debate but it is not legitimate when they sat in the select committee to now complain that somehow it was the Government’s fault that they did not get around to raising matters in the committee that in retrospect they wanted to raise. 
The purpose of Part 1 is to enable regulations to be made that exempt light electric cars from road-user charges. The intention is that the provision will take effect in October and run on a trial basis until 2013. It is envisaged that 300 vehicles will be affected. That number of 300 is logical sensible and reasonable and for the former member for Otaki to use the word “timid” is totally out of line. How dare any member of what was the previous Government for 9 years describe anything this Government is doing as timid? I humbly suggest to the young member that maybe he should get hold of a thesaurus—such as  
Roget’s Thesaurus 
—and spend a little of his time in this House on widening his vocabulary and learning a few words that may give a fairer more exact description of what he is trying to say. We should not ever let any member on the opposite side of the House describe the actions of this Government as being timid. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Hopeless chairman. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Mr Bennett’s chairing of the select committee was outstanding. The fact that Labour members did not take the opportunity given fairly to them by the chairperson to raise issues in the committee that they now want to raise in this debate is not down to anything but their own lack of competence. 
In this bill two things come together. The first thing is the reality that private vehicles continue to be the most significant mode of transport for most New Zealanders. When one accepts that reality—and it is a reality; there is no point in arguing about it—one sees that it makes sense for the Government to encourage the development of alternative fuel technologies. That is the intention of this amendment to the Act. It is to encourage alternative fuel technologies in the development of road transport. Secondly of course New Zealand has a major competitive advantage from its renewable electricity generation. It therefore makes very very good sense that we use that competitive advantage in our motor vehicle transportation. 
Part 1 agreed to.