Brown Peter: Urgent Debates — Tranz Rail 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Brown Peter: Urgent Debates — Tranz Rail 
[Sitting date: 10 June 2003. Volume:609;Page:6070. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I concur with much of what Dr Cullen said there but he has had a road to Damascus experience. He answered a question in this House only a few weeks ago indicating that he did not care if Tranz Rail were sold. He did not care if it were split up asset by asset with a part of the rail track going here and a part going there. Relatively overnight it appears that he has had a change of heart. 
New Zealand First supports the establishment of a rail track company. We have been saying that for years. An efficient railway service is an absolutely essential need for New Zealand. New Zealanders want to see some of the cargo traffic—logs containers what have you—moved from roads to rail. 
Dr Cullen did not touch on that and I will be listening with interest to hear the Minister of Transport tell us exactly how that will be done. We do object though to setting up Tranz Rail with exclusive rights to operate for 67 years. That is wrong. This Government does not have to give Tranz Rail exclusive monopoly rights. It can set the system up so that the rail track company is a State-owned enterprise and the lines are open for any operator to run a railway service—be it for passengers or freight. The system does not have to be exclusively the domain of Tranz Rail. That is a major concern for New Zealand First. 
We support the taxpayer having to put money into bringing the maintenance of rail tracks up to standard. From the information we have been given we believe that the way the tracks have been handled since they were privatised is an absolute disgrace. We were opposed in the first instance to the privatisation and selling of the railway company and that opposition is on record. At that time we were represented in the House by only the Rt Hon Winston Peters but he made the views of New Zealand First known when what was New Zealand Rail Ltd was sold to a Fay Richwhite consortium. The Minister has announced that $100 million will be available over 5 years to bring rail tracks up to speed. We do not believe that will be enough and we do not believe it will be enough in the short term. Twenty million dollars a year will not go terribly far. That is the information we have and I would be interested in the Minister of Transport’s response to that position. 
New Zealand First believes that any money the taxpayer puts into this arrangement must be tracked transparently. By that I mean that some of the money going into the consolidated account from petrol motorists in particular should be identified as being the subsidy to bring the rail track network up to scratch. We have major concerns about just ploughing money in and not recognising where it is coming from or who is paying. 
This Government has made strong statements about having an integrated transport policy. This is but a wee start in that direction and it seems to us to be a somewhat knee-jerk reaction. I give this Minister of Transport some credence. I have listened to him when he has spoken in the House and I believe that he is quite sincere in what he wants to do. But that does not come across in an organised fashion. It does not register with me as being organised. One minute the Minister is totally dismissing the purchase of Tranz Rail track or whatever and the next minute he is buying 35 percent of the company and ownership of the whole track. New Zealand First believes that transport in this country has been treated poorly politically-wise for many years and I was hoping that when Paul Swain got the Minister’s job he would be more upfront with all political parties that have a genuine interest in transport and transport-related issues—not just with the people he is in cahoots with. New Zealand First is certainly a party in that category. 
Having listened intently to what Dr Cullen and the Minister said earlier on I now want to know what the Minister will do about shipping. This is a subsidy for rail but what will he do for the shipping industry? I am very keen for a number of reasons to know just how he will approach the shipping industry because that industry is in trouble just as the rail people are in trouble. I want to know whether he will move to cabotage or look at a favourable fiscal regime—as he is doing for the rail track. I note that the Minister has taken a note of that so I look forward to him giving us an answer along those lines. 
Personally I am an advocate of a favourable fiscal regime for shipping rather than cabotage. Under cabotage exporters all tend to pay more but with a favourable fiscal regime they pay a modest amount whatever the ship be it foreign or from New Zealand. If the Minister were interested in that line and wanted to ring-fence it so that it did not spread into other areas then I am only too willing to give him some background assistance. I believe that this Tranz Rail purchase is setting a precedent for doing other things with other transport modes. Shipping is very important to us and I hope the National Party recognises that also. 
The history of the railways in this country is a sorry story. It was set up as a State-owned enterprise when Richard Prebble was the Minister. He actually did a good job and turned railways into a profit-bearing company for the first time in umpteen years. When it was turned into a State-owned enterprise it made a profit for probably the first time in living memory. Then it was sold. It was a soft sale of $328 million and I think the Government recognised that in its press release. But the ethics behind that sale were also questionable. Fay Richwhite and Co. acted as consultants then one day they dropped their pens and pencils and became part of the purchasing team. I understand that the shares they got effectively for 16c a share they sold for something like $3.60 a share. They made a mint out of New Zealand Rail took their money and left. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: It’s called asset stripping. 
PETER BROWN 
: That is the term I was looking for—and Tranz Rail has been effectively going downhill ever since. 
New Zealand First believes that we need an efficient railway system. It believes strongly that we have to take some of the cargo that is moved around this country on the roads and put it on to rail. We will support the Government in any positive move it makes to achieve those aims. I will now listen intently to the Minister and hope that he will give us some guidelines not only on that issue but also some indication of what he will do for shipping.