van de Molen TimTIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Thank you for the opportunity to take a call in the second reading of the Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill. I wanted to elaborate a bit on what I'd touched on in the first reading which was primarily in regards to the manner in which the excise duty that is proposed to be raised under this bill will be utilised in rolling out the objectives of the Government policy statement (GPS) in relation to the funds under the National Land Transport Fund and in particular to some of the projects in my electorate of the Waikato.As I've mentioned in the first reading the Government redrafted the Government policy statement released that in 2018 and the No. 1 priority as ascertained under that statement was on safety as opposed to reducing congestion which we've heard a bit about already. So in terms of raising additional revenue to help fund national land transport projects this safety focus should be the priority based on the Government policy statement.When we consider the Waikato Expressway—and in particular the additional projects that were notified under the former Government for extension near Cambridge where it currently ends in my electorate which is a beautiful part of the electorate of course but no significant intersection as to why that would be a termination point as such for the expressway project in its entirety. Whereas just a further dash down the road State Highways 1 and 29 the intersection there is a significant juncture with significant safety concerns—the cost obviously of extending that four-lane expressway down there is reasonable. We didn't have a firm figure on that but it was a few hundred million dollars. But the safety improvements that would have been achieved by continuing that expressway were significant and that is the main aspect here. When we're talking about raising additional revenue primarily for safety reasons then projects such as that should have continued to be a priority and yet it was scrapped. The new Government came in and got rid of it. That is a very busy piece of road not only that intersection of State Highways 1 and 29 but actually the intersection of Karapiro Road as well. There's a school there and in addition to that there is significant traffic that diverts up to Hobbiton—one of the main tourist attractions in New Zealand actually and a great part of the Waikato. The schools had to shift their entrance because it's no longer safe to exit on to State Highway 1 there. So they've had to go out to a side road at some additional cost.So when we're looking at the expressway as it was previously planned—and the route had been identified—the significant safety improvements that would have been achieved from the investment of funds raised under an excise tax such as this would have made absolute sense. Indeed the business case supported that.So it is concerning to see now that we are having an additional 3.5c plus GST—so just over 4c—a litre on fuel proposed to come in in a matter of only a few weeks now to add to the revenue stream available to the Government under the National Land Transport Fund to then try and achieve the objectives of the Government policy statement.Now we'd already of course seen an increase last year and yet we've seen some of these projects be reprioritised away from safety. We heard previously from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) that congestion is no longer a priority in terms of reducing congestion. So whilst I don't agree with that I accept that that's their stance on it. When we look at a number of projects up in the Auckland area where a lot of these funds that will be raised under this particular Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill will be funnelled or channelled into that area it suggests that actually where are the significant safety improvements if we've heard that congestion is not the issue? Safety is the No. 1 priority and the key focus under the GPS and we're raising additional excise duties under this bill of an additional 4c now earlier than what we'd expected. Then why are we not seeing that diverted to projects that the Government has identified as being a significant safety risk?So that is a key question that I would like to see addressed by the Minister during the committee stage. There may well be some Supplementary Order Papers coming to look at adjusting how much and the timing of this excise tax so that we can have more confidence that it is being utilised in a manner consistent with what the Government has expressed their intent is under the Government policy statement 2018 as opposed to what we are seeing play out in an ad hoc sort of way in terms of the debate we get from NZTA through the annual review process. What we hear when we tried to visit projects which has been somewhat challenging in terms of getting access in terms of then how this utilisation of the excise funds will play out in a practical sense—and so another element and we've heard around how rail is becoming a significant part of that Dominion Road project.We're talking about raising an additional 4c a litre this year and when we move forward to 2020 1 July next year an additional 4c. And yet that project down Dominion Road as I understand is not able to be completed until after the America's Cup.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Not allowed to be started.TIM VAN DE MOLEN: Can't even be started sorry. Thank you Mr Goldsmith. It can't even be started until that point. So here we are increasing the excise tax revenue take for the Government this year an additional increase again next year and yet they're not able to utilise any of that additional revenue for this project until even further down the track. So why do we need to bring this in now if those funds are not yet going to be utilised? So that's where we may well see an SOP coming from this side of the House as well around those particular dates that these clauses would come into effect rather than 1 July 2019 and subsequently under clause 3 and then under clause 5 1 July 2020—perhaps pushing those out further to a more appropriate time line that would then coincide with what the Government has indicated under the Government policy statement for the National Land Transport Fund. It would be a more appropriate time for utilisation of that.So those are the key aspects that I'd like to signal we will be expecting more debate and discussion on in the committee stage.SPEAKER: I don't think so.TIM VAN DE MOLEN: I beg your pardon?SPEAKER: I'm just saying that the scope of the bill is very narrow in committee.TIM VAN DE MOLEN: Right OK.SPEAKER: Very narrow.TIM VAN DE MOLEN: Sure excellent. So the other aspect of that rail in terms of the commuter rail—sorry what we've talked about—down Dominion Road is actually the other project in my electorate and what we were hearing from the Government is a commuter rail project from Hamilton to Auckland. Whilst we hear that reducing congestion is not the focus for the utilisation of these funds that project is solely focused around well additional modes of transport additional options with a view to reducing congestion. Although of course with only 200 passengers on a slightly overloaded train each day—compared to the thousands of commuters that head north into Auckland—there would indeed be very little actual change to the commuter space there. At a journey time of about 2½ hours each way I suggest it's unlikely that we'll see significant uptake of a slow train journey from Hamilton up to Auckland—as scenic and beautiful as that may be from a commuter's perspective.So hearing again that that is another significant project that may be utilising funds from this additional revenue raised under the Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Budget Measures—Motor Spirits) Amendment Bill both this year 4c and an additional 4c next year the question is how does that then play out if we are focused on safety? We're not making much impact through a project such as that commuter rail system from Hamilton to Auckland which actually consequently is now being extended again. So originally the list member Mr Strange confirmed it would be up and running by now in 2019. The subsequent date by the Minister who I think pulled him aside and said Actually this is what we're doing." was early 2020. Now we've seen that extended again. So already they're failing to meet some of those deadlines.That just brings me to the last point I wanted to touch on around NZTA's ability to meet deadlines and whether there's additional revenue available or not. It's quite clear at the moment in my electorate that they are unable to meet time frames and I've written to the Minister about this with my concerns. A number of projects that are specifically safety-oriented—which the Government has said is their number one priority under the Government policy statement—are not being delivered in a timely manner. NZTA are exceeding their time frames that they've given to achieve that and putting the safety of motorists and residents in the Waikato region behind the priority that it should be there. It's simply not good enough to see them not prioritised in that regard. So I look forward to seeing this continue and there will be much more debate from this side of the House."