Key John: Land Transport Management Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Key John: Land Transport Management Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:613;Page:9687] 
JOHN KEY (National—Helensville) 
: 
 The Land Transport Management Bill is a hopeless piece of legislation and everyone knows it except for the Prime Minister who came to the Chamber and said: “I think it is a good piece of legislation”. We cannot expect the Labour Government to get it right. “Trafgaffe”—that is what this will be known as. She will regret the day that she took on the warrior for the National Party the future Prime Minister of New Zealand Don Brash. She will regret the day that she rolled out “Trafgaffe” and she will be eating her words for months to come. As she sees the polls slip lower and lower her fear will rise and all of a sudden she will rue the day that she did not do something to fix Auckland’s roads. Mark my words “Trafgaffe” is here to stay. [ 
Interruption 
] The senior Government whip needs to listen because this legislation will not work. 
I want to discuss a couple of specific clauses—in particular the clauses that state that we cannot toll existing highways in New Zealand. I think this is a poorly constructed piece of legislation and I will explain why. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: That’s not what you said in the select committee. 
JOHN KEY 
: That is what I said. In the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee I argued vehemently that existing roads should be tolled. Imagine this clear example: we are on a three-lane highway in New Zealand and one lane could be tolled. Under that model we could have traffic demand management we could raise funds to put into new roading and we could take a step toward fixing Auckland’s roads. What did the Government say when adviser after adviser told it to do that? It said no it would rather deliver a hopeless piece of legislation. 
Mr Brown has said that the answer lies in fuel tax. He is right in part because a great deal of money will be required to fix New Zealand’s roads. But fuel tax is not the answer in totality because it does very little for demand management. 
Peter Brown 
: Don’t tell me the Greens have got at you. 
JOHN KEY 
: No no it does very little indeed. It cannot be specific to a single lane. It cannot be specific to some clip-ons that could be put on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. 
Brent Catchpole 
: You can’t put any more on it. 
JOHN KEY 
: Well one can actually. I do not believe that fuel tax is the single answer. I think it is part of the problem but not the complete answer. 
I also refer to why the inability to toll existing roads is so important. Auckland has had an uncompleted network of roads since 1963. That is the fact of the situation. Those pieces of road need to be put together. That has to be the priority for Auckland. I do not believe that any single individual road in Auckland will be self-sustaining from a tolling point of view. I think that if we look at building the eastern corridor for $2.9 billion or $3 billion we will not be able to toll it and pay for it in totality. But we can toll the network in Auckland which can be paid to fund not one specific road but all roads. We are talking about a large amount of money. My prediction is that we are talking about a minimum of $10 billion to fix Auckland’s roads. That will not happen without some substantial efforts to toll. 
I also make reference to clause 62(2) and the provision that requires the Minister under the concession agreement to be satisfied that the activities have a high degree of support from the affected community. When the officials came before the select committee I asked them what a high degree of community support was. They were unable to give an answer. They thought that two-thirds of a community had to agree before it was OK. Two-thirds is a ridiculous number. Seventy-one percent of all New Zealanders turn out for a general election and about 29 percent vote in local government elections. How on earth will we get two-thirds of a community to agree to sign up for a toll road? What is an “affected community”? If I have a beach house that is at the end of an area where a road could go through am I part of the affected community? Not according to the definition in the bill. 
I will also talk about the limitations of the concession agreement which was limited to 35 years. I want to give the Minister some credit because he changed it from 30 years to 35 years and that is good.