Brown Peter: Transport Legislation Bill — First Reading 
Brown Peter: Transport Legislation Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:619;Page:14900] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First will support the bill going to the select committee. We are quite relaxed about the Land Transport Safety Authority and Transfund joining forces and becoming Land Transport New Zealand. We hope that the new agency will be structured in such a way that it will not only be able to fulfil its functions as stipulated in the bill but it will also be able from time to time to give the Minister practical hands-on advice on what needs to be done in terms of land transport to advance the economic well-being of the country. 
I thought the Minister said in his opening speech that one of the responsibilities of the new authority would be to give economic advice but I cannot readily find that responsibility in the bill. I hope it is in there somewhere; if not I hope the select committee will be bold enough to consider inserting some sort of provision or recommendation that Land Transport New Zealand is able to give sound and practical economic advice to the Minister so that we can develop this country and its infrastructure. 
I feel frankly that over a period of years land transport and roading in particular has not kept pace with vehicle traffic and numbers. Something needs to be done with some degree of urgency. I know that the Labour Government is well in league with the Green Party which basically wants to tear up roads but I am hoping that the organisation resulting from the amalgamation of the Land Transport Safety Authority and Transfund will be able to give the Minister some sound hands-on practical advice. 
One of my areas of concern is section 69 “Functions of Authority” inserted by clause 33. Paragraph (h) states that one of those functions is “to investigate and review land transport accidents and incidents in its capacity as the responsible safety authority subject to any limitations set out in the Transport Accident Investigation Commission Act 1990:”. I have some real concerns about how we investigate accidents in this country—concerns not so much about land transport accidents but more about maritime accidents. I thought a Transport Legislation Bill—the title of this bill—would be an appropriate bill for addressing those sorts of concerns. 
I am specifically talking about the investigations of accidents by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Maritime Safety Authority of New Zealand. The accident that comes to mind is one involving ships called the  
Sydney Express  
and the  
Maria Luisa 
. On one cool calm dark night in Wellington Harbour I think in December 1996 the  
Sydney Express 
 which was a container ship literally rammed into the  
Maria Luisa  
overturned her and five men died. 
When one looks at the way that that accident was investigated and reported upon one has to speak one’s concern. Allegedly the police did look at it but they told me they listened to the Maritime Safety Authority and relied heavily on the authority. The Maritime Safety Authority and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission supposedly conducted independent investigations but I have now found out that evidence that was given confidentially to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission got into the hands of the Maritime Safety Authority. Evidence from the master and third officer of the  
Sydney Express 
 got into the hands of the Maritime Safety Authority very early on in the piece—months before the authority made its final determination—and the authority will not now release that evidence to the families of the crew of the  
Maria Luisa 
. 
I am working through the Ombudsman right now and hopefully we will get access to that evidence. There was no formal inquiry. There was nothing but a few experts gathered in a few rooms who made a determination. The deputy coroner who took charge of the case ruled that there was no need to have an inquest because there had been so many inquiries into the issue. It now turns out that there were no truly independent inquiries. There was a degree of cooperation—to put it mildly—by which a conclusion was reached. 
I say that that is not good enough and that this bill is the ideal legislation in which to look at how we examine accidents in this country. I feel particularly sad about the  
Maria Luisa 
 incident because 5 men died and there is no conclusion at all for their families. They are still grieving. 
To some degree the crew were blamed for the accident but there was no cross-examination of witnesses. There was nothing. There was simply a decision arrived at by so-called experts. I have met many experts who disagree with those findings and as a master mariner myself I have to say that I was concerned when I read the transcripts of the evidence that the Maritime Safety Authority had compiled. 
This bill gives an ideal opportunity to examine in some detail how the organisations of the Maritime Safety Authority the Civil Aviation Authority and the new authority should investigate accidents and report on them. I believe that the process should be a good deal more transparent than it currently is. 
This is a small bill in the scheme of things and I suggest that it will go through largely unnoticed. I doubt whether there will be terribly many submitters. But the bill could have a profound effect on transport and its operations in this country so we have to get it right. 
The Transport and Industrial Relations Committee has to address this issue in a meaningful way. I respect Mr Gosche. By and large he does a very very good job in chairing that committee but the committee has been known to make some blues. 
Darren Hughes 
: What? 
PETER BROWN 
: Oh yes. 
Darren Hughes 
: No! 
PETER BROWN 
: Oh yes—the holidays legislation caused me some anguish; I was there. There are aspects about the Holidays Act that New Zealand First firmly supports but we did warn the committee and we did warn the House that the legislation might be going a bit too far and will need to be rectified. I do not think we will have the same sort of opportunity with this legislation—we have to get it right. 
New Zealand First will support the bill going to the select committee. I hope we will play a positive and strong role in endeavouring to get the whole thing addressed correctly. So I will close on that point by simply saying that New Zealand First will support this bill going to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and we will see how it goes from there.