Davis Kelvin: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Davis Kelvin: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:671;Page:18073] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 My and Tau Henare’s esteemed elder from Ngati Hine Sir James Henare once said: “We have come so far not to go further. We have done so much not to do more.” That really should summarise the Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill because it does a heck of a lot but it does not quite go far enough. It does a lot but it could have done more. One of the big areas where it could have done more is in reducing the blood-alcohol level from 0.08 grams to 0.05 grams. That change would save lives. It would probably have saved the lives of the three people whom I spoke about earlier tonight— 
Michael Woodhouse 
: How many 15-year-old lives are you prepared to sacrifice? This is politics. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: There we go—the mouse from the south is squeaking again. He is chirping from his seat but he does not jump up and contribute anything of any substance. As I said that reduction would have saved lives. Instead as Iain Lees-Galloway has said National members were waiting for some polls. They were waiting to get the feel of the nation before they made a decision for themselves. Despite the fact that National is a party that prides itself on individual rights and individual responsibilities those values go out the door when need be. I think National members live by the rule: “These are our values and if you don’t like them we have others.” 
Another area where I think National members have gone too far is that of raising the age from 15 to 16 for new drivers. My daughter for example is 15. She is coming up to 16 in June. She is going for her licence but we as responsible parents have decided that she is not quite ready to sit for her licence. She is allowed to drive when there is an adult in the seat next to her but we have said she cannot go for the next stage until we think she is ready and she will not be ready for another couple of months. That is our choice as responsible parents and I thought that was what National members stood for—individual rights and individual choice. 
But of course in an instance like this National members throw those values right out the window and choose others. They are a bit scared of what the polls would say—sorry I should not have said that. But National is a party that has to wait for the feedback from focus groups which ring around and find out what people will say. They test the waters with their little toe and when things do not—[ 
Interruption 
] I think it was Winston Peters who said: “You don’t test the water with both feet. Only a fool does that.” 
This whole issue of raising the new-driver age to 16 hurts those of us who live in rural areas. In Kaitaia we have a fledgling bus company that runs on biofuel—would you believe it. Kaitaia is the centre and the company services an area that is about an hour and a half north about 45 minutes east and about 40 minutes west. This is a fledgling bus company. It is not as though there is a bus at the bus stop every 5 minutes as we would find in the city centres. 
The people up north cannot rely on a public transport service so we need our kids to be able to drive. We have sports fields. Kaitaia is the centre but there are a lot of sports fields in outlying areas. Kids from Kaitaia need to get out to their sports practices and this bill will make things just a little bit more difficult. 
It was interesting to hear Jackie Blue say there are many more cars on the road these days and many more since she got her licence. That is true and it makes us wonder why this Government is promoting policies that put more cars on the road. Why cannot the Government look at policies that remove cars and trucks from the road such as investing in public transport and investing in a decent rail network across the country? As I said earlier— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. I advise members on both sides of the Chamber that interjections should be directed to the person who has the floor. There should be no private engagement between members who do not have the floor. It is totally out of order and it is discourteous. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: Thank you Mr Chair but it is all right. We know that the Hon Tau Henare’s best days are behind him and Hillary College was a long time ago. 
I am not sure why this Government keeps perpetuating policies that put more cars on the road instead of looking at ways of taking cars off the road and creating safer roads in that way. Government members talk about the  
Safer Journeys 
 document. Surely removing heavy traffic from Northland’s winding and shockingly upgraded roads would make life safer for us up in the north. 
The booze bus is a regular visitor to Kaitaia because the police keep on catching people who drink and drive. I think we need to send a message to drink-drivers that we are getting harder and we will accept a lesser level of intoxication. I think that message should have been sent home and it is a missed opportunity by this Government. It should have reduced the blood-alcohol level to 0.05 grams. As Sir James Henare said we have come so far but unfortunately we could have gone further. We have done a lot—I will give the Government credit—but we could have done more. Kia ora.