7. Question No. 7—TransportHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of TransportQuestion No. 7—Transport7. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Transport: What is the expected increase in National Land Transport Fund revenue over the next two financial years as a result of increases in fuel excise duty on 1 July 2019 and 1 July 2020 and accompanying increases in road-user charges? Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Transport): The increase in fuel excise and road-user charges is funding road safety improvements to save lives and much-needed infrastructure to get our cities and our regions moving. The funding this provides will allow $537 million more investment over the next two financial years. The alternative is gridlock in our cities lost productivity in the regions and more deaths on our roads.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Can he confirm that when the Government's petrol and road-user charge increases from last year and the Auckland fuel tax are added to the total that he's just given us the total new taxes over three years are around $1.5 billion plus GST?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well I'd have to go back and check the member's numbers but I'll take him at his word. The transport system relies on $4.5 billion of expenditure every year to keep it moving and since 1927 every New Zealand Government has used fuel excise and road-user charges to generate the revenue to keep the transport system moving. Our Government is no different from that and nor was the former Government.Hon Paul Goldsmith: What will motorists get for all this additional tax in terms of major new roads?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well what they're getting for the first time in a decade is a balanced approach to transport. We're investing in roads motorways rail public transport walking and cycling and not just the eye-watering expensive motorways that carried only 4 percent of vehicle journeys that that Government spent 40 percent of the transport budget on.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does he think the Waterview Tunnel in Auckland was a bad idea?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: It was another excellent policy achievement by the last Labour-led Government.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Then why with all the extra taxes does he have no new plans to increase capacity in our key motorway networks in our growing cities?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: We're investing more than ever before across the entire transport network. We're investing more in regional roads outside of the six urban centres than that Government did over the last three years that it was in office. We are investing in a modern multi-modal transport system to give Kiwis the transport choices that they want.Kieran McAnulty: Are the excise increases in line with past practice?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I note that the previous Government raised petrol excise six times while it was in office and increased it by 17c on the litre and this raised a total of $4.9 billion while it was in Government.Hon Julie Anne Genter: Can he confirm that the best way to invest in capacity for our motorway networks is to invest in the complementary alternatives so that commuters don't have to sit in traffic and can take faster trains and frequent public transport services?SPEAKER: Order! There were multiple interjections on that occasion—five separate members interjected.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The answer to the member's question is yes. This Government is the first in New Zealand in a long time to put at the centre of its transport policy the insight that cities of any scale—if they only have roads and motorways to give mobility around the city—will be permanently condemned to gridlock. We need to invest in integrated transport systems that include walking and cycling and public transport alongside the roads and motorways so that when the motorways get clogged a certain number of people will choose to leave their cars at home and take public transport allowing the roads to move more freely for everybody else.