Williamson Maurice: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Williamson Maurice: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15016] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) 
: 
 I will speak to page 415 and subsequent pages of the report which contain the financial review of the Ministry of Transport. But I will cover only some stuff on page 422 of that report because we get only a 5-minute call and I want to focus on one issue. 
The issue is that during the financial year of 2006-07 the Government’s land transport funding agency Land Transport New Zealand finished the year with $224 million of money unspent. Here is the first question for members of this Committee. Is there any member who represents an area that does not need any more infrastructure like roads public transport or anything else? I ask members who think it is all finished and done with to put their hands up. Well there is the first question answered—not one hand went up. 
Members should remember that the Government is actually pilfering around $600 million of the petrol tax to start with. Yes it has a proposal for hypothecation but that is not until the next financial year. In the financial year we are reviewing $600 million was siphoned off to start with so that was gone and not spent on roads or public transport. But then Land Transport New Zealand with all the money that it still took from the motorist even after that money was pilfered could not spend it. I have to say that there is a very good reason that a Government department may not be able to spend its money: there are no projects left to do. I want to know from anybody whether that is the case in roading. Is there a single area of this country that does not advocate that it is coming apart at the seams? Dianne Yates will tell us about how wonderful things are in the Waikato I am sure. 
Dianne Yates 
: That’s true. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Well let me tell her that every one of the measures of transport congestion delays and so on has shown that it has got worse in the Waikato and its council and regional council said exactly that when they came to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and they were angry as. Bob Clarkson and his team from Tauranga will tell members about what is happening with traffic congestion. Let us try the question as though we are on  
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 
—there are four options when answering the question. The question is: has congestion got better or worse under Labour? 
Hon Members 
: Worse! 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: No I will give members options A B C and D. Option A is that it has got worse option B is that it has got better option C is that it has not changed and option D is to phone a friend because we do not know. 
Hon Members 
: A! 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: A lot of people are calling out “A”. I am happy to bet my salary—I will put my entire annual salary up against the Minister’s and I will fund it—and survey 1000 people chosen at random and ask them that question. I ask members to guess what the answer is. 
Dr Richard Worth 
: A. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Correct. Everyone is correct. Congestion has got worse. Members should ask the people who are in Auckland’s traffic. They will still by the way be in drive-time congestion—it is only 20 to 9; it will not finish for another half an hour to an hour. 
Land Transport New Zealand could not even spend the money it received. That is actually an outrage and a national disgrace. There should not be a member of this Committee who is happy that the petrol tax the road-user charges and the motor vehicle registration were taken from the motorists then about $600 million was siphoned off to the consolidated fund and Land Transport New Zealand could not spend what was left. 
If members read page 422 they will see that I asked questions of the chief executive of the Ministry of Transport around what I think is good practice for any business. I put to him the scenario that there were several branches of a company and they had all been given their budget for the year and then as the year began to unfold it was clear they were not going to be able to fulfil their obligations but another branch said: “Oh please please give us the money and we can be cut loose and get going.” I asked Alan Thompson whether that process is monitored and whether the ministry month by month sees whether in fact each of the regions is meeting its targets and Transit is meeting its targets. He said basically and members will be able to read it: “That’s not our role. That is not the role of the Ministry of Transport.” 
The Ministry of Transport is the key adviser to the Minister of Transport. The Ministry of Transport should be coming into the Minister’s office weekly and saying to the Minister: “Minister there’s $224 million of unspent money here. We should be doing something.”—and he says that that is not its role. It is an absolute and utter disgrace. Members of this Committee should be outraged and the Minister should be ashamed that that is what happened.