Speeches Page 3 

As a member of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee I was really pleased to take part in the estimates discussion around Vote Transport this year, because there was so much good news in the Minister's presentation, and there was good news for all the people of New Zealand.

Before I get on to the good news, I want to go back to the Albany to Pūhoi realignment B2 (ALPURT B2), which the member from Hamilton, David Bennett, has mentioned. A couple of weeks ago I saw a funny little video featuring the member Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith. He was driving around in his Ford Mustang Cobra car, and there he was in the middle of the ALPURT B2 tunnel. He said it was his favourite place in the whole electorate, because it represented a real difference for the people of his electorate. Who has been responsible for ALPURT B2? Was it Lockwood Smith? No, it was not. It was this Government.

The Minister has talked about the huge amount of money that has gone into roading from the Labour-led Government. That funding was pathetic in the 1990s. I live in Auckland; the only road I saw built was the "Maurice Williamson Highway" from the airport out to east Auckland somewhere, because it made it easier for him to get there. Members will remember when the roads at "Spaghetti Junction" did not match, and drivers could not get from the west to the north-they can now. They could not get from the south to the north-they can now. They can go all the way up to Ōrewa on the motorway. They can get the Northern Busway if they live on the North Shore. Where I live, in the west, we have seen the double tracking, and will see the electrification, of the railways. What a huge difference that is making.

This Government has done a lot more than build roads. We are putting together a transport system that is about the future, one that fits together and responds to community needs in a sustainable way. I ask the Minister in the chair, the Hon Annette King, how many years we have heard the calls for hypothecation-to spend all the money we get from excise tax on roading or on land transport.

Well, this Government has done it. Do members know what the bill was called that was passed a few weeks ago? It was called the Land Transport Management Amendment Bill. Did the National Party members support it?

They did not, I say to the member. I still do not understand that, because I am still waiting to hear the reasons for that from the National Party members.

I, too, like my colleague Mark Gosche, have recently been out with the coastguard in Kaipara in the Helensville electorate-John Key's electorate. It was a lovely trip up the Kaipara River and out on to Kaipara Harbour. Those volunteers are really wonderful and they are delighted with the passing of that legislation, because they will get some well-deserved money from the petrol tax collected from the boaties. We all know the coastguard does a wonderful job. The personnel are volunteers. They not only save lives but prevent accidents, and they raise money for communities and to keep their service operative and professional. They deserve to receive that money, and I still do not understand why the National Party would be opposed to that. What have its members said to the coastguard? Certainly, members of the coastguard do not understand the party's position, either.

Then there is the regional fuel tax, which was also covered in that bill. Again the National Party was opposed to that, but that tax will be able to advance some of the real things we need to do, like the electrification of the rail network in Auckland, and the building of the Transmission Gully highway north of Wellington.

In this debate we have talked about all of the new roads that we see around us-the fruits of the investment that this Government has put in over many, many years. But we have an eye on the future, and the fact is that roading alone is not the answer. We have also talked about our investment in public transport, which is over 15 times higher than it was in 1999. That investment is already delivering results to commuters and making it easier for New Zealanders to use environmentally friendly transport.

Of course, then there is the railway. We bought back KiwiRail. We bought back the tracks, and now we have bought back KiwiRail. Is that not a popular decision? Eighty-eight percent of people support the decision of the Government to buy back rail, and lots of them were National voters. I wonder what the National Party will say to those people.

This Government is delivering to New Zealanders, and there is good news in the estimates report. I have to ask what National is doing and what it is promising. Will National reduce road-user charges? National is out there cheering on the truckies, but will it reduce road-user charges?

• OUR MPs | 
• FEATURES | 
• LATEST NEWS | 
• SPEECHES | 
• PORTFOLIOS | 
• POLICY | 
• MULTIMEDIA | 
• SEARCH | 
• CONTACT US