Jones ShaneHon SHANE JONES (Associate Minister of Transport): A day of National histrionics. A day where the man's voice is hoarse. A day where his leader rather than talk about the critical issues thought he would score petty political points. A demonstration of cynicism. A demonstration of an absence of trust—an absence of trust. I predict there'll be more discussions about illegality in relation to that man's behaviour. I have absolutely no doubt that once minds more attuned than Mātua" are on these technical legal matters not unlike Mr Little sitting in front of me there'll be more said about that petty cynical sensationalism. But once the partisan dust has settled it will show the man's on treacherous ground. He's in a legal quagmire. Unfortunately he has fallen. He has fallen.However let me talk about what Kiwis mandated this side of the House to deliver on. They delivered to us the privilege to visit wellbeing into their households and through transportation policy wellbeing is coming to the provinces and to the regions. Now it does require me to put a certain level of my own moko or moniker on those efforts. The Minister of Transport has introduced not only the need for us to improve the imposts and increase the impost but he's laid out a transport plan and a key part of it includes rail. The key part includes rail because it's an asset that was deliberately neglected run down and ignored. But just as we're increasing the ability of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to move transport more efficiently to address the long sad history of Auckland's transport debacles this—not only this tax but the broader package—today will allow this side of the House to pay for a project that they started but never ever funded.Now we've had some epithets thrown across from that side of the House for this that they were going to build a road not unlike the one in Cambridge from Pūhoi to Whangarei to Tai Tokerau. They may have had—not on Facebook but on "Fakebook"—that particular dream but they did not fund it. They did not budget for it. They did not allocate the funding. NZTA have confirmed. Sure there was florid language—something I'm a stranger to myself. There were all sorts of promises made in the election. Nothing was funded. So what the Minister of Transport has done is ensured with these small increases a sum of $45 billion for the next 10 years will be there.Now the obligation falls upon us to ration it. We will ration it in such a way we don't have political monuments in the form of four-laning and tarmacking our way to climate extinction. We don't believe in that over here—we don't believe in that over here. We think a far more nuanced and moderate approach is needed—not only roads but rail.Now as I understand my rangatira the Rt Hon Winston Peters is in Whangarei tomorrow. He's going to demonstrate that the falsehood of building a four-lane highway promising all the way to Whangarei without a penny in the purse was a falsehood. However he's going to remind them that under the NZTA proposals that our side has endorsed there is substantial amounts of dough to fix up our regional roads. One of those roads that no doubt he'll talk about will be the need to improve the road from Whangarei to Ruakākā.But he's really going to talk about rail because when you win political power you have the opportunity to serve the public and to dedicate capital. In the dedication of that capital you can actually fulfil people's dreams. We're establishing over a two-year period well over a billion dollars for KiwiRail whereas over the last 10 years they hardly even spent $300 million or $400 million per year. No wonder the thing was run down.So I say to Kiwis I say to the media: "Haere ki Whangarei āpōpō."—go up to Whangarei tomorrow. There's a rail rally. And conveniently my rangatira—leaving the next generation not unlike myself to hold the fort here—will be up in Tai Tokerau. In fact I will be talking to accountants tomorrow but that will be in Auckland. I will remind them that wellbeing is beyond monetisation. It's beyond the harsh quantification exercise where the full kaupapa of mauri and mana and wellbeing is not captured. I will give that largely Pākehā audience—friends of the National Party—a lesson. The fact that they're from Auckland—I will introduce them to the concept that Auckland has to do not only the barracking for its own interests but bear in mind that its port cannot stay where it is. That is why rail is such a handsome beneficiary. Lay down the track and the infrastructure and the cargo will follow.But I don't want to be diverted. I want to come back to more important matters. Other than the ability for me to deliver on an overdue promise actually what I'll talk about is safety. Now my colleague from the Green Party Julie Anne Genter has convinced me that there is a place for the various wire ropes and other safety measures. Now I of course have insisted that as we roll out those safety measures we bear in mind the road needs of agricultural people. That's why in Ashburton I said we won't be indiscriminately putting those safety barriers in place until such time as the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA)—an unusual organisation. An unusual organisation but soon to see greater sunlight once our senior colleague brings forward the names that will provide a more focused level of governance because there have been people on the board of NZTA who forgot about their statutory mission. They were only there as vessels to pour out the rhetoric of the last regime. The last regime is history. The last regime is haere ki Hawaiki nui political Hawaiki roa and electoral Hawaiki pāmamao which means they are a distant memory. That is a distant memory.So once our colleague works with us—the Cabinet Ministers—there will be a new body of people dealing with governance. Then what we will see is that they will roll out safety and the safety will be better funded by these overdue price increases. If you want a quality global-leading infrastructure you have to contribute you have to buy it and that's what these imposts represent.So let me finish on reminding us that the kaupapa of this Government is safety as a feature of wellbeing. Rail is a hedge against excessive reliance on roads. Rail is an opportunity for boosting tourism. Rail is an opportunity for opening up new industrial zones. Now it doesn't actually take a lot of money but it needs a lot of political will. Soon I will going to Heretaunga. I will be going as the regional champion to watch the train go from Napier up to Wairoa. When it goes there I will have the Rātana band—they'll be playing the brass band when I arrive. And then we will be making statements that show we practise what we preach. We promised to reopen that line and indeed the opportunity might arise—with suitable lobbying from my colleague on the right Kiritapu Allan—that the line go up to Gisborne. But that however is for another day. There are at least 500 more days before that decision needs to be announced. Well actually when I see the future there are probably 3000 days of this regime when we can have those decisions made.Now look I don't want to sound excessive. I don't want to sound too extravagant because it's been a day of shouting and rhetoric and pettiness and cynicism from the other side of the House where they thought they would deface the heart of wellbeing by displays of cynicism which I predict the Leader of the Opposition is going to be held legally accountable for. There are laws to be upheld in relation to the privacy of information. My leader was right and once legal beagles get hold of that we may very well have not heard—as Boris Johnson is currently experiencing—the last shot in that regard."