O'Connor DamienHon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Miles Anderson looked very very uncomfortable when that was spoken of from that side of the House because the reality is that he's a regional MP from the South Island and his constituents are going to suffer from this stupid piece of legislation. We have a bunch of transport geniuses on the other side of the House here!When they last came into Government in 2008-2009 one of the first things they did in 2010 they increased the weight of trucks from 44 to 53 tonnes. Oh this was going to bring efficiency we were told. And then the next thing they did in 2014 was change the system of funding; it was effectively called sweat the assets". This was designed to drive efficiency in the way that we funded our roading maintenance and upgrades. The combination of that quite frankly as every regional and rural MP knows has been the destruction of our roads since then. We have as a country seen the deficiencies in Auckland because they can't help themselves can't look after themselves through many many years of local government incompetency—I'll say that. They have not invested properly in their infrastructure. And we as the taxpayers across the country have invested billions of dollars in Auckland's infrastructure. And we when last in Government said "We'll put a little bit of tax on petrol and you can invest in that transport infrastructure that's clearly deficient." And the last National Government took it off and we put it back on. And now this coalition Government's going to take it off. And the billions of dollars of deficits that this will leave will come from regional and provincial road funding absolutely. It will come from safety investments that save lives across our country: $5 million is the estimated cost of every single fatal accident in our country $900000 for every serious accident in our country. Wouldn't we be better to put that money up front and if so where should it come from? Well I know that in my home town of Westport actually until we intervened to bring in Gull and Nelson NPD—Nelson Petroleum Distributors—into the South Island we were paying a huge amount; a lot. It was about 30c or 40c more per litre than people in Auckland. So even with the regional fuel tax people were paying less for fuel in Auckland than many parts of our country. Grant McCallum: What other parts?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Many parts. Well let's go and have a look as I did just before. So they vary between $2.80 roughly in Auckland; $2.90 in the West Coast; in Waikato $2.70. There's about a 20c to 25c variation across the country.So the question is: what's the harm in investing in your future through a regional fuel tax? What's the harm in investing in safety and saving lives in your community? What is the harm? Can't answer it.Shanan Halbert: Don't care.Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Don't care. What I'm saying is that what we did with the implementation of this tax was actually enable Auckland to invest in its future and its future infrastructure. I think for the most part people didn't notice. Saving cost of living—what a joke. It's been pointed out by my colleagues that it's insignificant across the scheme of things. In the end the accidents the congestion and all of the other chaos that will come from the lack of investment will cost a whole lot more than being upfront raising some revenue and investing it in the things that Auckland desperately needs.This is one more of those stupid pieces of legislation being passed through this House in urgency where people don't get a chance to scrutinise it don't get a chance to put up the counterargument and indeed I'd say to you will be reversed in the future—will be reversed. Do you know why? Because Auckland and most Aucklanders—not the Remuera crew not the crew that sit over there the privileged the people who think they're entitled to a tax cut entitled to pay less for their fuel. Well do you know what I suggest to you and Mr Anderson will know: the hard-working people in Southland and Waikato and in Northland who generate the revenue for our country they're entitled to a fair go as well. This regional fuel tax was an investment by Aucklanders in Auckland. It's been taken away and that investment will come from the regional and provincial areas of our country that earn the money and that should have the same price and the same investment as Auckland."