Bennett David: Land Transport Amendment Bill (No 4) — Referral of S.O.P. 10 to Transport and Industrial Relations Committee 
Bennett David: Land Transport Amendment Bill (No 4) — Referral of S.O.P. 10 to Transport and Industrial Relations Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2175] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 That was quite an interesting speech from the Labour member Darren Hughes. There was a lot of love in his speech about transport. Unfortunately that love extended to the cycleway issue but if he had been at the financial review of Land Transport New Zealand he would have seen that it was noted that the cycleway would be related to the tourism portfolio not the portfolio of the Minister of Transport. So unfortunately the Minister of Transport will not get the glory for the cycleway and we will miss out on that bipartisan aspect of what has just been going on in the House. 
Supplementary Order Paper 10 relates to the Land Transport Amendment Bill (No 4). This bill is progressing through the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee as the member opposite Darren Hughes just noted. This bill has two main provisions. One is in respect of drug testing and the other is in respect of the motor vehicles register and the bill is progressing at a good pace. The member raised some questions around the issue of drug testing. Those questions will be for us to debate at another time and we will be going fully through those aspects. There are some quite interesting proposals around drug testing and the nature of the motor vehicles register can be quite complex so there will be a lot of debate on those issues. But Supplementary Order Paper 10 which we are looking at today is really just a timing issue in the sense that it sets up the dates so that a lot of the more significant rules and regulations that are needed in the transport area can still progress and be in force. 
The amendments of the Supplementary Order Paper may seem minor but their consequences are far from that. They are significant in some areas; for example they preserve the provisions of the Land Transport Act. That Act has provisions relating to local authority traffic enforcement powers so preserving that Act is vital to achieving the continuation of those enforcement powers. The Supplementary Order Paper also preserves some traditional portions of the Act by preserving regulations and notices that have effect under the Land Transport Act but made under other legislation. So there is very much a wide effect in the sense that the Supplementary Order Paper goes beyond the Land Transport Act into other legislation that may have a transfer aspect to it. 
 It also preserves the powers local authorities have in respect of enforcement of special vehicle land offences. That is another area that often does not get a lot of coverage but it is something that this bill maintains; the change in dates in this bill makes the retention of those powers possible. The last main change is the continuing of the obligation of a court to have regard to the Truck Loading Code for offences in regard to insecure loads and that is basically a temporary piece of legislation until it can be widened to include other industry codes. 
Although the Supplementary Order Paper itself is not grunty in the sense of having any of the major tests or policy in it that one would expect in legislation it has a very important role aligned with a bill that is coming up that focuses on some bigger areas and some bigger issues—namely around drug testing and the motor vehicles register. The timing issue incorporated into this Supplementary Order Paper means that we can continue that process and be able to have the rules and regulations that are vital for the transport sector to fulfil its role in providing growth and support for our economy. 
We look forward to Labour’s support of this Supplementary Order Paper. We are thankful that Labour members found it in themselves to be supportive on this measure. We also look forward to the way that they will work with us on the wider issues in the bill around drug testing and the motor vehicles register. Those are more prominent issues in the public eye and getting a lot of cross-party support on those issues will be vital to making the passage of that legislation through this House a lot quicker. I do not think there is much disagreement in the public about this legislation; the public see the need for some legislation there and if we can get cross-party support for it in the way this Supplementary Order Paper has had then that will actually make the job of this Parliament a lot easier and will mean that the legislation will have a lot more validity in the public eye when it goes to the community later this year—or hopefully even a lot earlier than that if we can get through the bill quite quickly in the select committee. 
In summary this Supplementary Order Paper does not include the major structural changes or policy changes that the bill will incorporate but through its minor change of dates it preserves significant laws and regulations that are vital in transport enforcement and the transport industry. We are thankful for the support of the other parties on this bill and we commend it to the House.