Land Transport Management (Repeal of Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Land Transport Management (Repeal of Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

I move, That the Land Transport Management (Repeal of Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill be now read a first time.

Madam Speaker, it’s getting a bit late here at Parliament and I know the other side are very keen to go home, but it’s a great day for Aucklanders. We are repealing the Auckland regional fuel tax and kicking off the parliamentary process to get rid of Labour’s Auckland regional fuel tax.

The bill will remove Labour’s regressive 11.5c per litre Auckland regional fuel tax, which has been adding a significant cost to Aucklanders over the past few years, adding pain at the petrol pump but failing to deliver the infrastructure that this tax promised to Aucklanders. This legislation to remove this tax is a key priority in the coalition Government’s 100-day plan, and I want to start by acknowledging my National Party colleagues and my ACT and New Zealand First Party colleagues for supporting this bill through the House.

Aucklanders voted for change at the last election, last year; 57.8 percent of Aucklanders voted for the coalition Government. So when members opposite will get up shortly, maybe in another part of this debate, and try and claim that they have some sort of moral mandate on what Aucklanders think—well, Aucklanders voted for change, they voted for the parties in this Government, and we were elected on the promise of axing the Auckland regional fuel tax. And it might sound radical, but we are delivering on this promise. We campaigned on it, we promised it, people voted for it, and now we are delivering it.

There are a number of reasons why the coalition Government is progressing with this bill. Firstly, fuel costs are a significant cost to taxpayers, to households, and this bill will provide relief for households and Aucklanders who have been facing a high cost of living. For example, for those who drive a Toyota Corolla, around $5.75 per tank; for those who drive a Toyota Hilux, around $9.20 per tank—this will make a significant difference.

Members opposite, who, when they put this legislation into Parliament, said this tax was going to deliver major infrastructure projects for Auckland, was going to deliver Mill Road down through South Auckland—a major new highway to unlock the south of Auckland—well, their project’s been cancelled more times than it’s been started by that Government. They said they were going to deliver other major infrastructure projects across Auckland, but what have they delivered? Well, I’ll read some of the projects on the list.

Speed bumps—speed bumps. So you’ve got 11.5c per litre additional fuel tax being charged on Aucklanders, and what do they get? A speed bump to slow them down. And not only a speed bump, but Auckland Transport have become perfectionists at building the most expensive speed bumps. The most expensive speed bumps in the world, in fact: close to $500,000. That’s right, close to $500,000 for a speed bump in Auckland. What a significant waste of money. That is not what Aucklanders want to see.

But also red light cameras: so we’re having a fuel tax, meant to pay for to improve infrastructure, now being used to, basically, put red light cameras in place. And, look, red light cameras have their place, but I’m not sure if that’s what Aucklanders thought they were signing up for when they were told 11.5c per litre extra was what they were going to pay.

And let’s add another one to the list: slowing speed limits down. You’re paying more for your fuel, to get a slower speed limit to get around Auckland. I don’t think that was what Aucklanders thought they were signing up for when the Auckland regional fuel tax was put in place.

There are many good reasons to get rid of this tax. Now, there is also another good reason to get rid of this tax. The reality is this tax hasn’t even been able to be spent. There is over $300 million—over $300 million—sitting in a bank account, unspent. That is over two years’ worth of Auckland regional fuel tax revenues—two years of Auckland regional fuel tax revenue which has not even been spent. There is a failure to even deliver against the speed bump targets that Auckland Transport and Auckland Council sought to set.

And so we don’t think it’s right to continue to tax Aucklanders, when they’re not getting the delivery on the infrastructure that Aucklanders need. We think that they’re not even managing to deliver against that tax with hundreds of millions of dollars of unspent revenues. So this legislation will repeal the Auckland regional tax fuel tax. It won’t just repeal it for Auckland; we are disestablishing the regional fuel tax legislation, which will mean that there will not be the ability under legislation for any regional fuel tax to be put in place in other regions as well. We think that is the right approach, rather than this rinky-dink approach that has been employed by the last Government and has failed to deliver whilst increasing taxes for Aucklanders.

The question will be asked—and I know members opposite have been asking a range of questions—in regard to the remaining funds. I know Aucklanders will want to be clear as to what is happening—$340 million, and we’re proposing that this fuel tax will end on 1 July this year, which could mean there will be additional revenue raised between now and then. That date is intentional: it aligns with the Auckland Council’s annual budget plan, in terms of the fact that we don’t want to end the tax partway through their budget year. So that will mean there will be further revenues collected between now and then. This legislation means that those revenues will be ring-fenced to some priority projects that are under way in Auckland and have been identified in conversations with Auckland mayor Wayne Brown.

There are three particular categories. The first one is the City Rail Link trains and stabling, and that will mean that the continuation of that investment will support the City Rail Link. Let’s talk about the City Rail Link for a second. It was started by the last National Government. It will be delivered under the coalition Government in 2026—unlike light rail, or “light fail”, as I call it: $228 million and not one metre of track laid after six years, spinning the wheels on the ghost train in Auckland and not getting anywhere. So that’s the first project.

The second one is the Eastern Busway in Reeves Road and a flyover which will help connect the eastern suburbs into the rail network. The third one will be some local roading improvements, including the important Glenvar Road and East Coast Road intersection upgrade, and also Lake Road in the great electorate of the North Shore.

So that is what this legislation does. This Government is committed to delivering on our promises. We were elected on a mandate, we’re now delivering on our promises, and I commend this bill to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Members, the Government has indicated that it does not wish to progress business further tonight. This debate is therefore interrupted and set down for resumption next sitting day. The House is adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Debate interrupted.

The House adjourned at 12 midnight (Wednesday)