Dunne Peter: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDunne Peter: General Debate[Sitting date: 26 August 2015. Volume:708;Page:6169. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future): Like many residents of Wellington I was delighted last Friday when the High Court ruled that the appeal by the New Zealand Transport Agency against the flyover around the Basin Reserve was to be rejected and I want to say to the New Zealand Transport Agency right now that this is the time to drop this crazy idea. I have been concerned along with many people that since the court ruling the New Zealand Transport Agency has been eerily silent on whether in fact it will appeal further. This is the time to stop the nonsense. It was a crazy scheme when first envisaged. It was rejected properly by the board of inquiry and now by the High Court and not even the New Zealand Transport Agency can hold itself above the law in this regard.What this incident demonstrates is that we do have an agency here that in my view is now out of control. Only a few weeks ago we heard revelations about the number of speeding offences by New Zealand Transport Agency - owned vehicles over a 9-month period. In fact had that level of offences been committed by any other New Zealander they would most certainly have had their licences cancelled and in some cases would have been imprisoned. But no: the New Zealand Transport Agency says that it has simply changed its procedures. In my own electorate the New Zealand Transport Agency seems hell-bent on pursuing two roading projects that have been rejected by the Wellington City Council rejected by all of the territorial local authorities bar one and rejected substantially by the Greater Wellington Regional Council. And yet somehow the New Zealand Transport Agency comprised of unelected bureaucrats seems to think that it can defy all of those opinions and apparently in the former case the High Court as well and proceed as it intended all along.It may be coincidental but I note that the chief executive of the organisation has resigned effective from the end of the year. I want to say to the Minister of Transport that I think this creates an opportunity to restructure the New Zealand Transport Agency to make sure it becomes far less of an arrogant we-know-best organisation and more of an organisation that works closely with the local authorities and the people that it represents and serves and that implements solutions that meet the community’s needs not the aspirations of the engineers within the New Zealand Transport Agency. I think that the opportunity will be there with a new chief executive for a change of direction and in the interests of a number of communities around New Zealand I urge the Minister to take that course.What the flyover decision showed in Wellington was that the presumption that this phenomenon built around the edge of the Basin Reserve could resolve all our problems was completely ill-founded. In fact the city council’s proposition some time ago of looking at a light rail link with a tunnel through the Mount Victoria area linking through to the airport makes far more sense and I believe that the rejection of the flyover now opens the door to reconsidering that proposition along with the spine approach that the regional and city councils have previously put in place for transport in Wellington. But they need the New Zealand Transport Agency to be an effective partner in that process not the independent we-know-all arbiter that decides from its lofty status what the best solution could be. When you have an agency that loses so consistently in the court of public opinion and now in the courts of law and with local authorities and yet still seems to think that its view is right and needs to be proceeded with then you have an agency in crisis.So although it is not appropriate to comment on the detail of the court decision it is appropriate to say that that court decision now provides an opportunity for the Minister to restructure the organisation to make it more responsive to community needs and for the Government’s transport priorities to now be able to be implemented in a way that more reflects the best interests of the communities that they seek to serve not the best interests of those who play with desktop solutions within the New Zealand Transport Agency day in and day out. This has been a complete disaster. We need to learn from it and move on.