Woodhouse Michael: Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Woodhouse Michael: Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) 
: 
 I am very pleased to take what will probably be the final call in the third reading on the Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill. Given that this is the first time tonight that I have spoken on this issue I take the opportunity to thank the officials for their very good work through the Committee stage and also during the deliberation on this bill by the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. I am sure the officials are around because the companion bill will be debated shortly by the Committee so there is still some work to do. This opportunity is my one chance to thank them for that effort. 
I also thank the hard-working chairman of the select committee David Bennett not only because he told me I should but also because I think he did a very good job. In fact I am surprised that other members of the select committee particularly those on the other side of the House have not joined me in doing so. It strikes me as symptomatic of the very passive-aggressive kind of approach that members on the other side took in the select committee. They sat as quiet as mice when we were talking about some of the issues yet they were up like lions in the Committee stage saying things that were not part of the select committee process. I will give members one example. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Did the member shut up for long enough to listen to anyone else? 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: What? 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Did the member shut up for long enough to listen to the other members of the committee? 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: Oh goodness me that is the Cosgrove interjection is it not? I am sure Labour members are being paid by the word tonight. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just want to be helpful. Either that member may be colour blind or there might be a sight problem: that is Mr Hughes; I am Mr Cosgrove. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I ask the member what Standing Order he is talking to. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Misrepresentation—106. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: There is no Standing Order on colour blindness. 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: I can assure the member that I knew exactly which member I was referring to although it is not surprising that he checked given that it appears there are doppelgangers on the other side—people who look very much like the select committee members but could not possibly be because they do not act as if they were there. 
I am very interested in Ms Beaumont’s plaintive cries that somehow this Government is working just a little too hard for her liking. Every time a bill is reported back to the House she is concerned that we have rushed it through or that we have not considered it. Well that is what a determined deliberate carefully considered decisively acting Government does. In fact the member was very concerned about the officials. I think the officials relished the opportunity to get clear articulate questions in a timely manner that they could report back on. It probably made their lives easier. 
I will also touch on a point that Ms Fenton made in the Committee stage about expectations being raised. Frankly in relation to this bill the only people who were raising expectations were those on the other side. We have always said this bill is a very important step on a journey. It is not a magic bullet; it is not going to solve all the problems. Members on the other side know that. If they did not they would have said so in the select committee or they would have come here with a minority report or a Supplementary Order Paper. All we have had is bagging and no constructive contributions to the discourse. 
I will finish by touching on three important areas that were raised by members in the Committee stage. They concern the police. I congratulate the police and also the Police Association on their contribution to this discussion. They raised some very good questions. In relation to police resources we have heard ad nauseam that they will not be enough. I would much rather take the advice of the police on that issue than the advice of members on the other side. The police told the select committee that they have the resources to give effect to this legislation that it will probably make their role easier and that it will free up resources for doing other things. I am very happy to accept that; they know best. 
I will also touch on the “They will know it when they see it.” comments and the derisory response we got from the other side. That insults the police. It says that the police are too stupid to distinguish Mr Cosgrove’s grandmother who is rolling around the Kaiapoi Pak ’N Save car-park— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Both of my grandmothers are dead. 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: —well OK I defer to the member on that—or a campaign contribution or the Christmas parade from what we are talking about. I think they would be insulted by that sort of logic. On the other hand I have every confidence that they know what they are talking about that they will act appropriately and that they will use their constabulary discretion. 
The last thing I want to touch on is noise. Boy have we heard a lot of noise about noise. I want to refer to Nicky Wagner’s new campaign manager Clayton Cosgrove and remind him that although there are some serious issues with illegal street racing in Christchurch it is not the centre of the universe. We have issues in Auckland Hamilton Lower Hutt and Dunedin. The fact that the Canterbury members on the other side who have spoken are not members of the select committee should not be a problem. 
There was very careful consideration of the noise issue and I am really surprised that those members on the other side who were on the select committee could be so dismissive of that. We had the officials arranging noise tests out the back of the parliamentary precincts. They were very helpful in understanding that an arbitrary noise limit would not be effective. We also heard from the police that they believe that the powers given to them through this legislation although it might not be a magic bullet will definitely aid their attempts to rejoice—reduce—the amount of noise coming from illegal street racing. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Rejoice! 
MICHAEL WOODHOUSE 
: It might not be a case of “Rejoice!” but it is certainly an improvement. For that reason I commend the bill to the House. 
Bill read a third time.