Beaumont Carol: Land Transport and Road User Charges Legislation Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBeaumont Carol: Land Transport and Road User Charges Legislation Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 08 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:16951. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour):In rising to speak on Part 2 of this bill the Land Transport and Road User Charges Legislation Amendment Bill—Part 2 contains the changes that amend the Road User Charges Act—I just want to identify a few of the elements that are in Part 2. There is provision in Part 2 around the situation where people are required to have a distance licence as part of their road-user licence where the vehicle concerned is used outside the terms of its road-user charges licence and the question around what defence there is in that situation. The Transport and Industrial Relations Committee in dealing with this has suggested an amendment here to clause 6A in Part 2 inserting new sections 9(4A) and 9(4B). This is around “reasonable excuse”—the amendment “gives guidance to operators and to enforcement authorities as to a particular circumstance that might constitute a ‘reasonable excuse’ without otherwise altering the effect of the provision”. So that has been done in Part 2 where it sets out what happens in the situation where the vehicle does not have the correct licence for the type of road-user charge vehicle that it is. So that is one of the elements of Part 2.Also in Part 2 are the provisions in clause 12 around an offence provision relating to breach of conditions associated with section 40 of the Road User Charges Act. That is in the situation of a “light RUC vehicle operated almost exclusively off-road”. That provision is outlined. It adds an offence provision new section 40(7) to support the enforcement of conditions associated with exemptions granted under section 40. The proposed penalties have been set out to be commensurate with penalties associated with other offences of similar seriousness. There are a number of minor technical amendments that are covered off in Part 2 as well. One of the provisions is to clarify one part section 57(1)(a) by putting the word “user” after the word “road”.This is a clarification to try to tidy up. Again as I commented in Part 1 Labour does support this bill. It is fixing up some matters that do need to be fixed up. It did have a rather tortuous history to get us here.But the real question—and it is one that Darien Fenton and Julie Anne Genter have both raised here—is how all of this relates to any coherent strategic direction for transport in this country. The fact of the matter is that this is an area where the Government is taking a very piecemeal approach. I thought it was a very interesting suggestion that Darien Fenton made actually in her contribution on Part 2 because in fact we do have the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. What a fine opportunity in fact for that select committee particularly to deal with questions of logging trucks and the types of roads that they unfortunately have to use causing serious accidents and being part of the horrendous health and safety problems we have in that industry. So there is a question of the types of roads and transport used and the failure in fact to make greater use of rail—for us to use rail more effectively especially along the main trunk—and to look at that in conjunction with the conditions of work of people working in the forestry industry. I think that is an exceptionally good idea. I think it is one that the select committee should take up.Of course the chair of the select committee David Bennett happens to be in the Chamber. I am sure that Mr Bennett will want to jump up and agree with us on this matter—agree with us on this very good suggestion made by Darien Fenton which is a serious suggestion. It is not a joke. This is a real problem we have. It is a problem in this industry that could be serving this country a great deal more. We could be doing a whole lot better with the forestry industry and with products from the forestry industry. We could be creating better jobs safer jobs jobs that pay people for a decent standard of living and creating added value in our economy. This is an opportunity to look at an industry that is very important for this country and to make sure that not only is it providing decent and safe work for the people who work in it but also is ensuring that we can use forestry and the wood products from it to ensure that we have better jobs throughout our economy; that we add value to logs and end up with products that we can get far higher prices for.Labour has outlined a strategy for the wood industry—a strategy that sees us moving from the situation where we currently cut down trees create logs put them on trucks and sometimes on trains and take them and export them offshore as logs. What does that add? As Ms Fenton has outlined we have an industry that is very very dangerous including for the truck drivers who drive those trucks on those forestry roads. We need to invest more in those roads to get logs off safely and to use our road-user charges and other funding of land transport to do that rather than funding some of the roads of national significance. But we also need to look at getting those logs and doing things with them. This is the sort of strategic approach that we need in this country to create better jobs to create greater wealth for this country so that we can ensure that that wealth is then distributed fairly.All of these things are completely beyond the scope of understanding of members opposite. Strategic decision-making is clearly not something that the Government is willing to do. Piecemeal approaches generally hands-off approaches are what it does best. It is not focused on issues like creating decent work for New Zealanders. It is not focused on a strategic approach to transport that makes sure that the transport system serves the people of this country and the businesses and the jobs that they create. This is something that is completely foreign to members opposite. I would note that in discussing this bill we have yet to have a contribution from a member of the Government. It would be very good for them to get up and talk about this bill. I would really urge David Bennett the chair of our select committee to get up and talk about the very good suggestion that has been put on the table today by Darien Fenton about us looking in a collaborative manner in our select committee at issues related to both transport and employment in the forestry sector. Thank you.Part 2 agreed to.