Smith Nick: Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Smith Nick: Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:618;Page:14007] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 If this bill is the answer it must have been one dumb question. The idea that we will fix the ginormous transport problems in Auckland by creating two new bureaucracies could only have come out of a left-wing Labour caucus. I was amazed to hear the contribution from the Associate Minister of Transport Harry Duynhoven. He says that the answer as much as I could make it out to Auckland transport issues is walking buses—walking buses for kiddies. Well my daughter Hazel is proud to be part of a walking bus but I have to tell the Associate Minister of Transport that if his answer to Auckland’s serious traffic woes is walking buses it is no wonder we have a flaky bill like the one before the House. 
It further amazes me as National’s local government spokesperson. I have talked to a great number of the citizens and councils of Auckland and if there is any local authority—I would go so far as to say anywhere in New Zealand—in which there is a lack of public confidence it is the Auckland Regional Council. Everybody I speak to says it is a bureaucratic monster out of control that delivers little. Yet the Government—Judith Tizard and Chris Carter—believe that our worst public authority is the answer to New Zealand’s biggest problem. That is absolutely extraordinary. I am not surprised that those Auckland members of the Labour caucus are not down here defending this bill; they know it is a failure and they know it will not address the very serious transport issues that are costing Auckland and New Zealand a billion dollars a year. 
But I want to go further down this track of extra bureaucracies not being the answer. If there is any aspect of Auckland’s transport issues on which the editorials the councils and the important commercial transport organisations agree it is that there already are too many organisations trying to deal with Auckland’s transport woes; that there already is a lack of accountability and no one organisation is prepared to put up its hand and say it is responsible for the mess that is Auckland’s transport woes. So I ask Mr Carter again: how can creating two new bureaucracies possibly make a positive difference to those transport concerns? 
It is interesting to note that despite all the increased taxes that this Government has imposed—not just on the road users in Auckland but on the road users in New Plymouth in Nelson and throughout the country—and despite this Government telling New Zealanders that that extra money would be spent on Auckland roads it has been quite comprehensively proved by my colleague Maurice Williamson that this Government is spending less on Auckland roads than was spent in the last year of the National Government. That is a fact it is an embarrassing fact and it is time that both the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Local Government fronted up to the people of New Zealand as to why they are taking more money off the road user and spending less on roads. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: There was a 32 percent increase in revenue. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: My colleague points out that 32 percent more money was taken off road users and less money is being spent. That is why we say Auckland’s transport problems have got worse every year under this Labour Government. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: Because you did nothing for years. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well I will tell that Minister what we did do. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: What? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: We introduced a Resource Management Amendment Bill and that member is part of the Government that rejected that bill. It is interesting that Judith Tizard the failed Minister with responsibility for Auckland Issues is getting a bit tetchy. It is not surprising she is getting a bit tetchy; if I had her track record I would probably resign. She is getting tetchy because this Government has done a U-turn on the Resource Management Act. If we go back to 1999 we find that National introduced quite a comprehensive bill to make some key changes to that Act and this Minister and this Government pooh-poohed it. They said that no the Resource Management Act was beautifully written and beautifully crafted and did not need to change despite the fact that key Auckland transport projects had been tied up by the Resource Management Act for 7 years. It seems it is acceptable to Government Ministers including Judith Tizard that it takes 7 years to get a consent to build a new road. Well members on this side say that is not acceptable and that is why Don Brash in his leading speech on Auckland transport issues pointed out— 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: It’s all laughable! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Judith Tizard obviously has not read the  
New Zealand Herald.  
I read a stunning editorial in the  
New Zealand Herald  
that stated there was more sense in Don Brash’s speech on roads than it had heard on that issue for years from Judith Tizard or the four Ministers of Transport. We on this side of the House are proud of that speech and proud of the fact that that speech recognises that we will not make substantive progress on Auckland’s transport issues without substantial amendment of the Resource Management Act. That is something this Government does not recognise it is something this Government has continually kicked for touch and it is something that National and Labour view very differently. 
The further issue is public-private partnerships. We on this side of the House have held the view that they offer real potential to solve Auckland’s transport woes. Where in this bill do we find any mention of the potential for public-private partnerships to do the job? 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: They were in the last bill. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I ask the Minister how many public-private partnerships there have been. It is 5 years since that member picked up her ministerial warrant. How many public-private partnerships do we have? Could the National transport spokesperson fill me in? 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Um um it’s zero! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: It is zero. [ 
Interruption 
] The Minister admits that despite her carrying a ministerial warrant for 5 years we do not have a single public-private partnership in respect of dealing with Auckland’s transport concerns. I tell the Minister that by any sense that is failure and she will be held accountable at the polls next year for that. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: No wonder you lost the Wearable Arts! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Is it not interesting: the Minister now wants to talk about the Wearable Arts Awards. I would be happy to talk about those and about how that Minister has produced a result that is a tragedy for Nelson but this debate is actually about a transport bill. I think the people of Auckland are actually more concerned about the billion dollars a year that transport issues cost them than they are about the tragedy of Nelson losing the Wearable Arts Awards. 
I want to come back to this bill and to point out that it is an appalling indictment on the Government’s management of transport. Here we have a huge issue of great economic and strategic importance for not just Auckland but our country and on all the key issues—organisation the agencies involved in managing this problem; legislation notably the Resource Management Act; the billion-dollar price tag on completing the Auckland motorway network; and the issue of public-private partnerships—this bill takes us nowhere. It is a failure. It is an indictment on the Minster of Local Government the Minster of Transport and the sometime Minister with responsibility for Auckland Issues. It is a bill that will actually make things worse not better. It is a bill that will sentence thousands tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders to ongoing traffic jams. 
I say to members opposite particularly the Auckland members that the voters of the city of Auckland will not tolerate the ongoing obfuscation and failure in respect of transport issues. Those members have failed. They ought to resign and let somebody else come up with a far better approach to solving Auckland’s transport woes.