Heatley Phil: Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Heatley Phil: Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:609;Page:6489] 
PHIL HEATLEY (NZ National—Whangarei) 
: 
 It comes as quite a surprise that Rodney Hide would want Parekura Horomia to address the Committee on this particular issue a tax when Mr Horomia is not very coherent on his own portfolio. How could he ever be expected to speak about the Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill? I would have thought that Mr Hide would go straight to the Minister of Health who is in the chair and ask her to explain to us the difference between a tax and a levy. I know that the Minister of Health is taking an interest in this bill only because she is enthusiastic about introducing a health tax. She is interested in introducing a health tax—a health levy. She has floated that idea; she simply wants to see how this accident compensation levy goes through. She wants to learn from the mistakes of the Minister who is in charge of this bill because she wants to introduce a health tax. 
I am also surprised about the commencement dates in the bill. This Government is so enthusiastic to boost up its coffers that I am surprised that this whole bill every clause of it does not commence immediately or as it states in the bill when it receives the royal assent. I am surprised that this Minister and the Labour Government are not trying to get this money in the coffers as soon as possible. I am delighted that the Government is not doing that; I wish the Government would put that off for ever. But I am surprised it has not done that because this bill is simply a money-collecting exercise. 
Clause 3(b) concerns me. It states that the purpose of this Act is to “avoid the need for an amending Act to consequentially adjust the rates of excise duty and excise-equivalent duty on the relevant fuel … whenever the levy changes;”. In other words this bill gives this Government an opportunity to change the levy at any time at a moment’s notice without warning the public before any general election and to slap another tax on the people of New Zealand who jump in their cars or ride their bikes. That is what it does. This bill simply breaks down the walls so that this Labour Government can tax and levy at will—and this is what the bill states: “to avoid the need for an amending Act” so that the Government can act quickly. The purpose of this bill makes it clear that this Government is enthusiastic to levy and tax New Zealanders. The Government is so enthusiastic that it is making it easy for itself to do so. 
Clause 6 refers to the rate of the levies. It adds subsection (4) to section 214 of the principal Act and that subsection states: “The levy payable … is payable—(a) at the rate or rates per litre or other unit prescribed by regulations … ”—as one might expect. But then it states: “(b) in the absence of regulations for the time being in force for the purpose … at the rate of 5.08 cents …’’. And of course it also states that the rate can be changed at any moment—at a moment’s notice. 
So we can add this tax to the flatulence tax which we have heard about and to the tax that has already gone on Northland roads. I think it was 4.7c a litre was it not? I ask John Carter whether he has seen Northland roads improve since that tax was brought in. 
John Carter 
: It’s taking a long time. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: It is taking an awfully long time to see Northland roads improve since that tax was brought in. We can add this tax to the tax put on the elderly of New Zealand every time they just want to have a quick glass of sherry to the tax on Northland—the tax on road-users—and the tax on cows and sheep. If we add all those taxes we have a formula for this Minister in the chair Annette King to introduce a health tax on every New Zealander. That is what we will see next. We will see the promised health tax. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: It will be a levy. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: Yes it will be a levy. The member who hails from the north although we do not see him up there very much is quite right. It will be called a levy but it will actually be a tax. So there we have it: a road tax a petrol tax a tax on sherry a tax on flatulence this tax and a health tax.