Robertson Grant: Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Customs and Excise (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 16 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10357. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour): I want to pick up—Brendan Horan: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. As an independent MP I am permitted to speaking only during—[Interruption]The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Order! While there is a point of order on the floor it is to be heard in silence.Brendan Horan: I am permitted to speak in only the Committee stage. I was denied the opportunity to speak on Part 1 earlier in the Committee stage. I would ask you to consider that in the interests of democracy New Zealand actually hears an independent voice and that I get an opportunity to speak in this Committee stage.The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Thank you for drawing that to my attention Mr Horan.Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. Although the member has a valid point I think that it has generally been regarded as disorderly to disagree with the Chair in that way and especially to interrupt the contribution of another member as Mr Horan did. I think—The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): He is new.Hon Trevor Mallard: —that if he called out a little bit louder when members are going for the call someone might hear him.The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Thank you.GRANT ROBERTSON: I want to pick up where my colleague Mr Mallard left off. We are debating Part 2 and in particular I am looking at clause 7 which institutes new regulation 6A—and now I am just checking on the Attorney-General’s well-being over there which is perhaps not so great just at the moment.Dr Rajen Prasad: He’s gone. He’s gone.GRANT ROBERTSON: He is gone—he is completely gone. That is terrific—[Interruption] Oh there he is. Very good. So just for Mr Finlayson’s benefit I say that we are looking at clause 7 which institutes the new regulation 6A into the Land Transport Management (Apportionment and Refund of Excise Duty and Excise-Equivalent Duty) Regulations 2004. As Mr Mallard said we are looking at who can get a refund under section 6A. I think the Minister in the chair may need some assistance now as well. [Interruption]The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Have we finished?GRANT ROBERTSON: Thank you Mr Chair. The Minister appears to need some assistance at the moment. What we are looking at here is who can get a refund and what those refunds are. I think it is worthwhile—given that the many members of the public who will be glued to their televisions and radios listening to this debate will not be aware of exactly how this process works—Hon Trevor Mallard: No you’re not allowed to refer to them—that’s a point of order.GRANT ROBERTSON: Ha ha! People who are interested in this debate will not necessarily be aware of how the excise duty refund works. In this new regulation 6Athere will be a rate of refund of 3.45c on 1 July in 2013 2014 and 2015. Mr Mallard has already explained that that 3.45c effectively equates to the 3c that is being increased plus GST and we have the open question of whether or not there is double-dipping here if these same people will be claiming GST back at the same time as having that included in their refund. We have not heard from the Minister of Transport an answer to that but it is important to know who is actually entitled to this refund because that goes to the Labour Party’s major concern about this whole bill.So who is entitled to a refund? Generally speaking according to the New Zealand Transport Agency fact sheet on these matters it is vehicles that are used mainly for commercial purposes particularly agricultural vehicles and some mobile machinery. So as Mr Mallard has already made the point once again what we see here is further benefit for those at the upper end of the income spectrum—further benefit for those more politically aligned to the National Party.We go right back to the beginning of the whole way in which National ended up with the roads of national significance. We know from the emails helpfully released as part ofThe Hollow Men book and documentary that the National Party then in Opposition made a political decision to create the roads of national significance not because they were the best transport solutions for New Zealand but because politically that would work for it. Maurice Williamson Don Brash and John Key—they were all involved in that email exchange and that is how National ended up with this policy. So once again here in Part 2 we see the next stage of the politicisation of this point with the next stage being that those who generally benefit from these refunds are those using commercial vehicles.Mr Mallard made a very good point because the exclusions that the New Zealand Transport Agency lists are any motor vehicle that is principally used in vehicle races trials or other sporting events. That seems overly harsh on the rally drivers of New Zealand and those who are working to earn a living from using their vehicle—Hon Trevor Mallard: On the track.GRANT ROBERTSON: —on the track—in a commercial way. So I do not think that the Government can necessarily sit here comfortably and say that this is a fair exclusion and a fair refund process. It is a refund process that goes directly towards the very people who have benefited from the rest of this Budget from the National Government.Seeing this come back in the way that it does in Part 2 reinforces for us that this legislation is not really about how we fund transport in New Zealand; it is about the overall picture that this Government is trying to paint when it comes to its supposed economic management. It is about the Government trying to cover over the fact that we have an economy that is not growing that we have jobs promises that are not being met by this Government and that the only way that it can get itself to its political surplus is to ensure that it puts up petrol tax which as we know will be borne fundamentally by those people on modest incomes—the people who are already struggling. If you are on an income where you can throw it through a trust then you will be able to get the refund but if you keeping going this way—