King MattMATT KING (National—Northland): Look I just wanted to respond to the last speaker Shane Jones. He's an impressive guy. He talks a big game though—he talks a big game. He talks about election promises and us not keeping election promises. I was on the election campaign against his great leader and man did I hear some election promises and none of them were kept—none of them were kept. So I have the terminology: Pot come in kettle."—that's what I say. These guys talk fantasy over reality. We had Māori seats—they were going to abolish them; Mangawhai rates; they were going to move the Auckland port to Northland. Now Northland is OK. We're in a growth area. We've had growth for the last five years but we could do with more. The offer: they came north and said that they were going to relocate the Auckland port to Northland. That was music to the ears of Northlanders but I tell you what you're not going to move the Auckland port to Northland by taxing motorists.So what we had was we had Jacinda Ardern saying "No more new taxes." That was the first line. This is a tax and spend Government. How are we going to support the motorists by taxing the motorists and spending it on rail? So let's talk about rail. Let's talk about all the money that they've just promised in the Budget to pour into rail. Rail doesn't work in Northland and Shane Jones is going to find that out. We've had rail up there for decades—decades we've had it and guess what? No one uses rail up there. To compete with the roads you've got to have distance and you've got to have bulk and up north we don't have either.So some people might say—this classic argument—you're going to get the trucks off the road. Well you're not going to get the trucks off the road. You're not going to get those trucks off the road because the reality is we've got forests scattered all over Northland and they've got to go by road. They've got to be loaded on the trucks—Hon Shane Jones: They're being moved by Semenoffs.MATT KING: On the Semenoff trucks. They've got to be loaded on the trucks in the forest and with the distance from there to Northport—where all the logs go out—rail cannot compete with trucks. So the reality is—and I'm specifically talking Northland here—they're going to pour millions of dollars of motorists' money into upgrading the rail up there. It sounds really good. The punters up north they're thinking "Oh this is great. We're going to get all this money spent on rail." but it's going to be a dead duck it's going to be a waste of time. We all know why they're pouring money into Northland: to buy the Northland seat—that's a fact.Now in everywhere else around the world they're building four-lane highways. I actually happen to know that Shane Jones' great leader has been advised by people in the know people up high that rail is not going to work in Northland—you're wasting your time with rail. You know what? I have it on good advice that he was given this advice and he said "Well National's got the roads tied up. We're going with rail; it's a vote winner." So that's a fact. So they're pig-headedly pushing ahead with rail.In Australia they build four-lane highways and everywhere they build four-lane highways they get growth. In Northland our economic action plan identified the four-lane highway in Northland as the single biggest driver of growth in Northland. These guys are going to funnel money away from the highway to put it into rail. Now we promised in the 2017 campaign that we would start building the road from Whangarei South which is the busiest and most heavily used road in Northland. So from Whangarei city out to Northport we were going to build that road. Yes that was a 2017 campaign and yes it hadn't been allowed for in the Budget because we were going to do it in 2019 so that's two Budgets later. The same thing was said by Winston Peters—that we weren't building the actual highway from Pūhoi north and it was under construction during the campaign. I said "You can actually see drone footage of it being built." and he was standing up in an election campaign and saying that we weren't building it.The other thing is the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA). Now I don't know if they're being politically interfered with or not but we have requested meetings to talk about the roads—this excise tax that's supposedly meant to be going into roads. We our National MPs have requested meetings with the NZTA staff all over the country and for some reason we can't get them. The guy that represents Northland I've requested twice in writing and several times on phone calls to get meetings with them just to understand what their plan is for Northland and they won't meet with us.The biggest piece of infrastructure built with excise tax money in Northland was the Matakohe bridges a $26 million 2.5 kilometre major piece of infrastructure for Northland in the southern end of my electorate.Hon Shane Jones: New Zealand First policy.MATT KING: No that was the second of the 10 bridges promised. We built it with our funding our design. And you know what? There were two bridges there and you know what they've done? They haven't even had an opening ceremony. They just moved the cones aside and let the traffic go through. Yet we've got blessings and openings and sod turnings for tiny little jobs in Northland that Shane Jones likes to attend all over Northland. I'm expecting an invite to the opening of an envelope with Shane Jones.But this $26 million project—not a bean. There was a lady that campaigned up north for these bridges. She's been campaigning since 2012. She was involved in an accident with her daughter on the Matakohe Bridges so she's been campaigning; she's been working away. She hasn't had the respect to be invited to an opening of this major major project. So they just moved the cones to one side and opened the whole thing. That's the way we get treated.So what do the people get with this excise tax? They get a cost of living increase on top of the regional fuel tax. In Northland out the southern end of my electorate they get hit with this regional fuel tax on top of this excise tax we're getting now and they get nothing for it. They're getting nothing for it on the roads. They're getting the money poured into trains in Auckland or so-called public transport infrastructure in Auckland. But they're paying for it—the whole southern end of my electorate are paying for it.They cancelled the Northland road. They've cancelled the Warkworth to Wellsford section of the road that we were going to build. They've cancelled that. Well the rest of the world Andrew Little is building four-lane highways. That's the reality. Your Government is pouring money into rail and boo-hooing roads. Well I'll tell you what: they don't want to go with our four-lane because they know that's a winner. So they've proposed in Whangarei to build—well they're building a roundabout there. You know that's Shane Jones' special wee roundabout. That's well overdue. I can accept that roundabout but that was going to be part of the four-lane highway that we were going to build. They're just going to do the roundabout. So they've proposed running a double-lane row next to the existing State highway instead of running into a four-lane and this is going to cost two-thirds of the cost of a proper four-lane highway. So it's not going to be half the cost; it's going to be two-thirds. They're still pushing ahead with it.So northerners we're getting ripped off. New Zealanders are getting ripped off. And this represents politics—this represents politics of the very worst kind. It really does. So we oppose this. We oppose this excise duty. We oppose this tax and spend Government. We oppose their rail over road rail at all costs over road. And you know what? I can tell you this: the New Zealand First Party will be pushing up daisies before that Auckland port gets moved to Northland. They will be pushing up daisies. They're proposing this now to try and win the Northland seat but they will never deliver on it. We know it. It's just a pipedream like most of the other promises that come out of the mouths of those across the House."