Bridges SimonLAND TRANSPORT AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Transport): I move That the Land Transport Amendment Bill be now read a second time. The Land Transport Amendment Bill has six parts. The bill will enable innovative small passenger services to operate and deliver benefits to consumers while managing safety risks. It will also introduce mandatory alcohol-interlock sentences for repeat offenders and first-time drink-drive offenders with high alcohol levels. The bill will create more effective deterrents to reduce the number of fleeing drivers. It will also strengthen the framework managing evasion of public transport fares. It will create opportunities to increase productivity of heavy freight and passenger vehicles. Finally the bill will make a range of minor amendments to make sure that the Land Transport Act is clear and operating as intended.I want to thank the members of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee for their work on the bill. I also want to thank those who took the time to make a submission on it. The committee's report includes many sensible recommendations that will help ensure the bill achieves its objectives.Small passenger services: the bill together with amendments to land transport rules and regulations will overhaul small passenger services by removing outdated provisions and bringing the sector into the 21st century. Safety will be maintained in the future system with the retention of the P endorsement certificate of fitness and work-time limit requirements. Although mandatory signage is being removed small passenger services will still be required to have a transport service licence card displayed in their vehicle's window and drivers will still have to display their driver identification cards.The changes are intended to encourage innovation and better services while managing safety risks. There is already scope for the use of electronic logbooks and I encourage the industry to take the opportunity to implement this and other technology to improve services. As reported back from the select committee the bill contains several changes that will help ensure that the new system for regulating small passenger services can be implemented effectively.As I said it also deals with alcohol-interlock sentences. This is another important part of the bill and it ensures the alcohol interlocks are a highly effective tool for reducing the incidence of recidivist drink-driving. To increase their use the bill proposes to make alcohol interlocks mandatory for high-risk and recidivist drink-drivers. As reported back the bill contains three changes that will help balance the desire to have as many qualifying offenders as possible using alcohol interlocks with other policy considerations. These changes relate to the way in which alcohol-interlock sentences apply when being considered alongside other concurrent offending; the resentencing of offenders to an alcohol-interlock sentence if grounds for an exception no longer apply; and extending the distance-based exception from 30 kilometres or more to 70 kilometres or more. The greater use of alcohol interlocks by high-risk offenders will help improve road safety outcomes and support the Government's road safety objectives.Fleeing drivers: the bill will also increase the penalties for drivers who fail to stop for police. Increasing the penalties for fleeing drivers will send a clear message that this behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. As introduced the bill would have extended the ability of an enforcement officer to impound the motor vehicle where the enforcement officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the owner person in lawful possession or hirer of the motor vehicle knows the identity of the driver who has failed to stop for police and the person has failed or refused to provide information or has provided false or misleading information in response to a police request for this information.In his report under section 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 the Attorney-General concluded that this creates an inconsistency with section 21 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure. To address this inconsistency the revised bill reported back from the committee relies on the existing power available to police to impound a vehicle if they believe on reasonable grounds that it has been used in a fleeing driver incident. The Attorney-General has advised that he is satisfied that the revised bill has addressed the inconsistency of some of the fleeing driver provisions with section 21 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. What a wise man indeed.Fare evasion provisions are also in this bill. Another important part of the bill is that it strengthens the legislative regime for managing public transport fare evasion by giving enforcement officers new powers to require passengers to provide evidence that they have paid a fare provide their contact details when a valid ticket is not produced and/or order a passenger to disembark the public transport service. As reported back the committee has ensured that the bill is futureproofed by amending new section 79M(4) to remove reference to ticket vending machines. Clause 31 has also been struck from the bill because it is now considered redundant.The bill also complements the recent changes to the vehicle dimensions and mass rule and corresponding regulations by making technical amendments to clarify existing provisions address operational enforcement issues and correct anomalies.Finally the bill includes a range of minor amendments to clarify interpretations or the intent of the legislation improve its operation remove inconsistencies and make minor technical adjustments with the committee making a series of changes here that I will not go into given the minor and technical nature of them. But worthy work it was indeed from the committee.The bill includes other minor and technical changes that I have not explicitly covered. These changes are of course set out in the committee's report. They are consistent with the overarching objectives of the bill which are to provide better regulation for a more effective efficient and safe land transport system. I am proud of this bill. I think it futureproofs our land transport regime and I commend the Land Transport Amendment Bill to the House.