the noes are 56, the question is agreed to.
the noes are 56, the question is agreed to. Appropriation
the noes are 56, the question is
call on Government Order of the Day call on Government Order of the Day
No. 2. Land
Transport Management No. 2. Land Transport
No. 2. Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment
Phil Twyford. I move that the Land Transport Management (Regional
Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill be now read
a second time. For too long
Aucklanders have been losing
hundreds of hours of time every year
sitting in traffic, time that
they will never ever get back. The
productivity losses caused by
year and that's why the Government recently announced the biggest civil
infrastructure frame in New
Zealand's history to get
Auckland moving and, Madam Speaker, it
is fully funded. This is a game
changer for Aucklanders and the first step
in ensuring a
congestion free alternative and transport system
that allows the roads to
move more freely. This Regional Fuel Tax
enables those projects to become
a reality and provides a sustainable
funding mechanism to fund those
funding mechanism to fund those
projects over the next 10 years. The
Finance and Expenditure select
committee received over
500 submissions from
submissions from people, organisations and individuals and
interestingly, not
interestingly, not just from Auckland but
Auckland but from across the country. I want to thank all of
those who made
submissions, especially those who appeared in
person before the committee in
Wellington and in Auckland. There
Wellington and in Auckland. There
were many private individuals who
took the time to express
their views and make valuable comments.
Aucklanders understand that they
must pay a fair share to
address Auckland's transport problems. This
bill allows them to do that. The
auto mobiles association AA pointed
out in its submission to the
committee that when I
surveyed the Auckland members they were,
within reason, willing to pay more to
reason, willing to pay more to
improve the transport
situation in improve the transport situation in
Auckland. The AA points out
that a Regional Fuel Tax has been one of
the more popular funding options
to help address Auckland's most
the more popular funding options to critical transport challenges. This
Government is committed to making
the hard decisions and addressing
the most difficult problems. Drift
and neglect are not options
for us. We said during the election
that we would implement a Regional Fuel
Tax in Auckland and we are keeping
our word. Our transport policy
commits us to addressing the infrastructure
deficit that we inherited and we are
committed to striking a balance
between affordability and taking
urgent action on the deficit we
inherited.
urgent action on the deficit we inherited. ATAP, the Auckland
Transport Alignment Plan preics that
public transport ridership will go
from 93 million annual boardings
to 170 million under
from 93 million annual boardings to
They will build 175kms of new cycleways. The plan forecasts
They will build 175kms of new
drop in deaths and serious injuries between
drop in deaths and serious injuries
funded for the first time ever, Auckland has a
Government and local Government. Without the Regional
Fuel Tax Auckland would have a
Without the Regional Fuel Tax
transport funding hole and would be virtually unable to build any new
projects to address rapidly
virtually unable to build any new Without
virtually unable to build any new worsening congestion. The Regional
Fuel Tax enables 200kms of bus
priority improvements
priority improvements across Auckland providing bus travel
timesavings of up to
Auckland providing bus travel
completed routes. A new bus station and route at Sylvia Park, a bus
interchange in lower
Albert Street for the North Shore busway
and a similar interchange in Key Street,
improved access to airport for
the passengers by 2024 and
the 27,000 extra jobs that are predicted
in the airport precinct. The
Eastern Busway, that I would have thought
supporting, would increase public transport patron in botany by
doubling patronage
doubling patronage in that electorate. The Regional Fuel
Tax enables park and rides a
various enables park and rides a various
places. 20 additional trains in
the construction
construction of associated facilities to
facilities to house and maintain them. Redevelopment of the downtown
them. Redevelopment of the downtown
ferry terminal to deal with
an expected
ferry terminal to deal with an
journeys over the next 10 years. A road safety programme for a large
increase in road deaths and serious injuries. In 2017 this equated to 64
deaths and 749 serious injuries, a
level of road trauma that
has not been seen in the
city since 1996. The combined impact o
the accelerated programmes allowed by
this Regional Fuel Tax is estimated
to reduce deaths and
serious injuries by
to reduce deaths and serious
years. This Regional Fuel Tax also enables Penlink... Yes!
years. This Regional Fuel Tax also enables Penlink... Yes! It
enables Mill Road and many more
projects across Auckland. Projects
that were talked about but nothing was
done about over the last 9 years. The
bill enables a regional or unitary
council to seek funding
for specific
indicated that in this term of about
indicated that in this term of Government, only Auckland will
be able to put in place a Regional Fuel
Tax under this bill. The
Regional Fuel Tax must be applied for
and that application must be
for identified and specific capital
projects. It is not there to
pay for
expenditure. The bill allows for a Regional Fuel Tax of up
to 10 cents per litre and our modelling
shows that this could result in
between 150 million and
year in the case of Auckland. The bill enables a tax to will apply to
both petrol and diesel but for
no more than 10 years. This period of
time gives
time gives Auckland funding certainty to deliver on
major transport projects but it requires
it to come back to its
citizens and it to come back to its citizens and
to ministers, if it wants to go
beyond the 10 years. A Regional
Fuel Tax is not, as some have suggested,
a blank cheque
to Auckland Council. Both ministers and
the residents of the region expect to
see delivery of the things that the
Regional Fuel Tax was raised for. I want
to acknowledge that
acknowledge that the Regional Fuel Tax will add costs
to Auckland motorists and to Auckland
families. The combined effect of the
Auckland Regional Fuel Tax and the
proposed increases to fuel excise duty will
cost an family
increases to fuel excise duty will
per week and this Government has put
families and that puts it into families and that puts it into
perspective. Congestion
perspective. Congestion costs are regressive. The best way to deal
with the regressive nature of
the cost of congestion is to invest in
a modern rapid transit and public
modern rapid transit and public
transport system for
our biggest city that will give people
genuine transport choices because the worst
thing
transport choices because the worst
having no transport choices and being forced into the
most expensive option, which is, is utter
depend dents on every working
adult having to own and run a car in order
to live and survive. The
select committee's
committee's report back recommended a number of sensible changes to the
bill that was
introduced into this House. They include
enabling a Regional Council to exclude a
part of its region from
the Regional Fuel Tax. Requiring ministers to give
consideration to
consideration to regulations for rebates for fuel used offroad and
requiring the transport agency to
report on revenue costs, fuel
prices and volumes and compliance. These
recommended changes are
broadly sensible and are reflected in the
bill as reported back to
the House from the select committee. I am
act EUly considering now how the best
ensure the eligibility for a rebate
for fuel used offroad is both
principled and practical. This
Regional Fuel Tax, enabled by this
bill, allows us to move ahead with a
investment plan for our country's biggest city. That plan is
designed to get Auckland moving. It is
designed to give people
a genuine
they currently do not have. It is designed to give people,
especially in peak hour, an alternative
to spending hours stuck in
gridlocked motorway traffic. Alongside
KiwiBuild, our plan
to build affordable housing, our
urban development authority to
lead
fix infrastructure financing and reform the planning system, these
reforms will allow our city to make
reforms will allow our city to make
room for growth, to provide a
unleash the growth and prosperity denied Auckland under nine years of
drift and neglect. I
thank the minister. Your time has expired. I
call
minister. Your time has expired. I
watching the faces of the Labour backbenchers as Phil Twyford
is answering questions in
the parliament during question
time because you can see the despair on
their face after his performances
in the House. I think,
Madam Speaker, having listened to him give that
second reading speech, members of
the public watching will understand
the concern that the Labour
Party has around Phil
Twyford. Never before have