Hartley Ann: Land Transport Management Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Hartley Ann: Land Transport Management Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:613;Page:9658] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: Please be seated. There was far too much noise going on. I will give members one warning that there will be silence during points of order. That is the final warning to all members. Mr Brownlee was speaking to the point of order quite correctly. I will now rule on Mr Brownlee’s point of order. In the point that I made I covered the title; it was covered in that. I do not intend to debate the Land Transport Management Bill title. It was covered in the ruling I gave. 
Dr DON BRASH 
: I was pointing out that the title of the bill the “Land Transport Management Bill” is totally inappropriate because the bill does not deal with what it purports to do. The title is so far off the rails that it must be amended to reflect what the bill really does. I suggest that the bill should be called the “Land Transport Mismanagement Bill”. As currently drafted its purpose fails to address economic efficiency in any shape or form. An outdated dilapidated roading system is costing New Zealand billions of dollars yet what does Labour do? It throws economic efficiency on the scrap heap because it thinks it knows best. Well it does not and just about everyone who wants to fix transport problems knows that. Perhaps the bill should be called the “Red Light to Road Users Bill”. That is how Business New Zealand describes the bill. That title might be more appropriate because the bill is steeped in old-fashioned dogma and is backed with so much opportunity for ministerial meddling that it guarantees no private sector involvement in new roads. Labour knows best? Yeah right! 
But maybe Aucklanders have the best idea for the title. Perhaps the bill would be best named the “Tool-box Without the Tools Bill” reflecting Auckland Mayor John Banks’ comment that “We have the tool-box but still not enough tools to urgently fix Auckland’s incomplete transport network.” Thousands of Aucklanders are despairing that after 4 years of a Government with a Prime Minister from Auckland Labour cannot do the job that is needed. If Aucklanders want a Prime Minister from Auckland who will do the job then I will make it a priority for the next National Government to fix things and to fix them properly. 
Part of the reason the title is wrong lies of course with the Greens. We could call the bill the “Greens Before Growth Bill” because the Greens have done a deal to put the priority on skateboarders not motorists in favour of a “Nandor corridor”. 
I am surprised that Michael Cullen the “stealth tax bomber” has not sought to change the title to the “Petrol Tax Diversion Bill”. That is because the bill allows the Land Transport Fund to be used for any approved activity. Indeed there is no cap on the amount of money that can be siphoned off to non-roading purposes at all. It could cover just about anything. Indeed the bill opens the floodgates of a disaster. The title includes the words “Land Transport” but that definition includes coastal shipping—water transport in a Land Transport Management Bill! The only ships I know that run on the land are those that have foundered on the rocks and that is precisely what this bill will do for land transport solutions. So we could call the bill the “Ship Bike Train Cycleway Footpath and Skateboard Bill” to reflect the Mickey Mouse coalition that put it together.