Luxton CameronCAMERON LUXTON (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. The Labour Government that has just been unceremoniously turfed out's anti-car approach led to an imposition on the life of road users and took their eye off the important job of maintenance on our roads.Earlier this year the Transport and Infrastructure Committee conducted an investigation after it was suggested that we examine the extreme costs of building a single raised speed table in Auckland—Williamson Ave to be specific. Four hundred and ninety thousand dollars. It was gold-plated road improvement. Now whether this speed-reducing piece of infrastructure was required or not New Zealanders are rightly shocked at the abhorrent waste of money that led to nearly half a million dollars being spent to build this speed bump. A large proportion of the cost was spent on complying with ridiculous traffic management plans.The reforms which Minister Brooke van Velden is conducting in the health and safety at workplace legislation will ensure rules are clear sensible and proportionate to the risk. This will address some of these issues. But it cannot be right that in a country that is going forward and paving its way in the future of this world the only way we can achieve lower incidences on the road is by adopting a slow them down and stop them" sort of mind-set.Labour's anti-car safety-ism approach led to wire barriers spreading over the country like the roots of a noxious weed. This Government is grabbing that weed and pulling it out. The misguided Road to Zero policy led to plenty of meetings and policy groups but the decision to focus on things that slowed us down in a desperate attempt to achieve a lofty goal lost sight of the easy wins. Road repairs scheduled maintenance resurfacing fixing potholes all improve road safety. Instead we got things like raised speed tables and barriers that get in New Zealanders' way. The ACT Party is here to advance the removal of barriers freeing our citizens and our businesses to grow and achieve for the betterment of all New Zealanders.Last week along with the local member Scott Simpson I attended a meeting of over 350 concerned residents who live on State Highway 2 between Ōmokoroa and Katikati. The reason these residents got together was because the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) under the direction of the last Government's Road to Zero programme decided to put wire barriers down the centre of their road. This piece of road is a single carriageway a two-lane road. It is almost as though the last Labour Government forgot that people lived along these roads. It's another case of ignoring rural New Zealand because highways aren't just for cruising from one downtown to another; for many that are living rurally a highway is the only way they get anywhere.The good people who attended this meeting raised many concerns which may have missed the previous Government's thoughts such as if one has to travel 7 kilometres extra to access their road that adds a heck of a lot of travel time. In a medical emergency every second counts. When there's a rural fire every second counts. God forbid if a tsunami was to strike the Western Bay of Plenty there would be a barrier stopping people from quickly escaping to the hills. This is all serious stuff. When it comes to the day to day people want to be able to exit their properties and return home after a long day at work without needing to drive in many cases and extra 7 kilometres in the other direction just to get home adding cost and time and taking away from people's quality of life not to mention the emissions.As a result of all this lobbying by these local communities in fortuitous timing one hour before the meeting in Katikati NZTA put out a press release saying "As a result of community concerns NZTA will reconsider the options for the section of median barriers along the stretch of road." They further go on to say "which is getting in the way of many intersections including Work Road intersection." This news will come as enormous relief for residents I've met. While it is difficult to say exactly what pushed NZTA to make this announcement it is clear that fierce advocacy and protests from the locals has been effective. I was contacted by residents tearing their hair out over the prospect of being blocked from turning right out of their roads and have been privileged to take their concerns further. ACT is getting barriers out of the way of New Zealanders. Thank you Mr Speaker."