Bennett David: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Bennett David: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to rise and support this Road User Charges Amendment Bill in its Committee stage. When we look at the part we are debating at this stage we see that it predominantly focuses on the use of electric vehicles and the incentives this Government is making for those vehicles. 
This is a new technology and something that may not yet be available in the sense that we will not see a whole fleet of electric cars taking over tomorrow the fleet of cars already on the road. But it is a starting point that is going forward for the future. When we look at what is happening around the world we see there is an attempt to do that throughout the world. People are looking for cleaner greener forms of car technology. The  
New Zealand Herald  
today has an article about a US programme that is basically encouraging people to trade in gas guzzlers for cleaner more environmentally friendly cars. They are not quite of the electric technology because that is the next level. I guess that electric technology will be the next level from the one of more fuel-efficient cars which the US is going through at the moment. But the article shows that the world is moving that way and New Zealand needs to be in that space. This bill is putting New Zealand in that space so that we are ahead of the game when it comes to environmental concerns and so that we are making the best initiatives possible to encourage the best results for our transport sector. I think it is a great initiative for this Government to do that because it is showing not only that we are up with the play internationally but that we are taking a leading role in what we are doing with electric vehicles in this case. 
 The Road User Charges Amendment Bill is a perfect opportunity for us to show that desire and willingness to take a lead in regard to electric vehicles. The road-user charges that would have been on these light electric vehicles will now be exempt. We want to encourage this technology to go forward and to take advantage of what we see as one of the solutions for transport in the future. When we look at the current road-user charges for an electric vehicle weighing 3.5 tonnes or less it is about $36 per 1000 kilometres. So that is about $400 a year based on travelling an average of 12000 kilometres a year. We are keen to give that initiative to the purchasers of those vehicles so that they can make that choice. 
An electric vehicle will be more expensive than a contemporary vehicle at this point in time because it is new technology that is advancing. Over time we will see the price come very much down. The amount of $400 may not seem like a lot in comparison to the cost of an electric vehicle compared with the cost of a conventional vehicle but over time as that technology grows the price gap will narrow and there will not be such a big gap between them. 
Sue Moroney 
: Oh you’re going to slap the road-user charges on then! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Labour members are yelling out things about electric vehicles. Obviously they do not care about our environment. They do not have any concern for what is in the best interests of New Zealand. I imagine that they prefer to drive around in big diesel cars rather than taking some initiatives that are in the best interests of this country. They do not see the value in being a leader in environmental concerns. They do not see the value in taking an approach that takes greenhouse gas emissions into account. This Government is taking a constructive approach to ensure that this valued technology can be taken up by as many car owners in New Zealand as possible. 
It is a small but important start in recognising that technology. A lot of the time it is about giving recognition to new technology so that people understand the importance of it and that the Government values that kind of technology which is why we have given that exemption. The exemption will come into effect later this year and it will apply until 2013. During the select committee consideration the Green Party had concerns about the time frame for the exemption. It wanted it to be a shorter time frame believe it or not.