Hudson BrettBRETT HUDSON (National): Thank you Madam Chair. Following on from my colleague's contribution I also want to mention GST because like Mr Smith I recall the times when the Rt Hon Winston Peters has railed against a tax on a tax. He does it on rates; he's done it consistently for years on fuel excise. Here's his opportunity. Here's his opportunity to show that New Zealand First does what it says on the tin. He can come down here; he can talk to the Minister in the chair and get a Government Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) in. The way I would suggest just to help elucidate on what Mr Smith was saying is zero-rate the GST on the regional fuel tax (RFT). The reason you would zero-rate the GST is because that way you still file it as part of the GST claim so therefore the person could still claim the GST on the other components within the price of the fuel—so on the fuel excise for instance. If it was to be exempted if you exempt the regional fuel tax there is a risk then that that might actually prevent a claim on the rest of the GST within the petrol price.So I would suggest and I call on the Minister: work with your officials Minister. Put together a Government SOP—it wouldn't be a difficult one to do. In fact go a bit further: don't just zero-rate the GST on the regional fuel tax be bold. New Zealanders are facing the very real likelihood of further increases in petrol price beyond your extortionate regional fuel tax. They're facing the real prospect even outside of the islands of Waiheke and Great Barrier Island of paying $3 or more a litre. Well the Government is in a position to help them. First of all put an SOP in to zero-rate GST on the regional fuel tax but go further. Look at zero-rating not only the initial excise increases that the Government has planned over the next three years but also the existing excise. Help struggling Kiwis out. Give them an even break because they deserve it they work hard and they're fuelling your spending plans through the imposition of the tax. Give them a little bit back through a bit of relief on the GST.The other item I want to talk about in this part is clause 5 the Additional information: RFT schemes"—the reporting which the agency has to make to Government to New Zealand. If you look on the face of it it looks pretty simple—Hon Ruth Dyson: What clause?BRETT HUDSON: —just telling what the RFT is meant to do the project that it's being used on but I think there's an essential ingredient that's missing from these items. The essential ingredient is about the quality of the spend. What it isn't doing is it isn't tracking—CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Order! Could I just ask the member to tell me what clause he was—BRETT HUDSON: Clause 5 new section 34B "Additional information: RFT schemes". Sorry not clause 5 it is clause 10(5) sorry. CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Thank you.BRETT HUDSON: Clause 10(5) new section 34B "Additional information:". It's about the agency reporting to Government and therefore to New Zealand. It does report on what the tax is being spent on what's in the programme but what it doesn't do is report on either the quality of the spend or the benefit realisation for the programme that is being signed off for the tax to apply to. I think it's actually important that because so many of these projects can last a great deal of time—span indeed multiple years—the agency is showing to Government and to New Zealand that the programme the project that hard-working taxpayers' money is funding is indeed on track to deliver the benefits it said it would and in particular that the quality of the project as it was first signed off still applies.There are clauses within this bill that allow for amendment to the regional fuel tax if new circumstances come to light. So what might start off as 5c a litre—I could laugh at that because I doubt that any one of them will come in at less than 10c a litre—because the Minister has the power via an Order in Council to increase the RFT over 10c a litre anyway then the variance provisions that exist in Part 1 of the bill could mean that the fuel tax could be increased part-way through the project and therefore the whole quality of that project should be reassessed.So I call on the Minister—a simple SOP a simple change to this to make sure you've got quality items of quality of spend and the anticipated benefits tracking so that through the lifetime of the project you can give certainty to Government and certainty to New Zealanders that the taxpayers' hard-earned money that is being fleeced from their back pockets is at least going to deliver the benefits for which it was anticipated. I think that will be a very wise thing to add."