Hughes Darren: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hughes Darren: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:668;Page:15239] 
3. 
Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Transport 
: When will the New Zealand Transport Agency announce a new date for releasing information about the new State Highway 1 through Kapiti and how long will the consultation period run for? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 I am advised that updated consultation materials for the MacKays to Peka Peka Expressway will be considered by a New Zealand Transport Agency board committee at its regular scheduled meeting on 18 November. Should that consultation material be approved I understand that an announcement will be made by the New Zealand Transport Agency after that date advising the timetable for consultation including the period that consultation will be open. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am sorry but I missed the last sentence of the Minister’s answer about the length of the consultation. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I will ask the Minister to assist us but the member might note that it was his own front-bench colleagues who were making the noise that prevented him from hearing it. Could the Minister please assist us with that. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Absolutely on the basis that the Opposition will actually listen. The announcement will be made by the New Zealand Transport Agency—actually I will repeat the full sentence. Should that consultation material be approved I understand that an announcement will be made by the New Zealand Transport Agency after that date advising the timetable for consultation including the period that consultation will be open. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: When he took the unusual step of calling both the chair and the chief executive of the agency on a Saturday to discuss delaying a publicly notified consultation due to start the following week did any aspect of the conversation touch on when that consultation could start? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I reject at the outset the assertion of that supplementary question that it was an unusual step for me to be working on a Saturday and talking to people involved in my portfolio which is something that I do all the time. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think that is a flippant answer to my question. I was not being insulting by saying that it was unusual; I would not have thought that contact on a matter like this would take place on a non-business day. There was nothing loaded in the word “unusual” and if that is what caused the Minister offence then I will take that word out so that he can get on with the substance of my question. That was not a political attack on him. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think the member has more supplementary questions. The way he shaped the question it started out: “When the Minister spoke to some people on Saturday …”. I feel that I cannot ask the Minister to answer any differently because that is not really starting the question. If the member had structured the question the other way round he might have got further. He has more supplementary questions and I think he should use them. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: If the further refinements that the New Zealand Transport Agency is working on are not in the Mana electorate as he asserted yesterday during question time why then will he not ask the agency to release the part of the route that is in Mana so that the voters in that area know what to expect before they go to the polls on 20 November? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I am confused. On the one hand the member seems to criticise me for trying to have an involvement in New Zealand Transport Agency decisions and on the other hand he is asking me to tell it what to do next. He really needs to decide what he expects of the Minister with regard to the New Zealand Transport Agency. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Surely the Minister is responsible for giving an answer to the House not for questioning what my motives are in asking the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think—[ 
Interruption 
] I ask whether the Minister is quite finished. I think the questioner on this occasion has a legitimate grievance. Although there are issues over what the Minister can do with regard to the Transport Agency the question was not unreasonable. I think it might be appropriate to let the member repeat his question just to make sure that it has been treated reasonably fairly. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: If the further refinements that the New Zealand Transport Agency is working on are not in the Mana electorate as he asserted yesterday during question time then why if he has had nothing to do with the original decision will he not ask the agency to release the part of the route that is in the Mana electorate so that those voters know what to expect before they go to the polls on 20 November? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I still have trouble with the question. On the one hand the member is insinuating that I am suggesting that there would be some involvement in the political cycle but now he is suggesting that I get involved because of the political cycle and ask the New Zealand Transport Agency to do something that it is not yet prepared to do. I have a problem with that. I think the agency should get the consultation material together as quickly as possible and provide as much certainty to people as it can but it should not be cognisant of the political cycle and the Mana by-election. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Further to the Minister’s reply that the committee will meet on 18 November and then release information after that for consultation does he think it is fair that if the standard 6-week consultation period is chosen that will mean it runs through the Christmas and new year period and is it fair that people will have to try to make a submission on such an important matter during the Christmas and new year holiday period? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I am sure that is a fair point for the member to make and I am sure the board committee will take into account the timetabling of the consultation relative to the Christmas period. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: When the New Zealand Transport Agency announced on 2 November that the consultation it had spent $22000 on inviting people to for 7 November was suspended to “further refine … proposals” was it only the location of the motorway by the urupa that required refinement or was it other locations along the road as well? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: My clear understanding is that the focus of the change was on insufficient detail on a section of the road towards the northern end of the alignment which if consulted on as it stood would leave too much uncertainty for local residents.