Blue Jackie: Climate Change (Transport Funding) Bill — First Reading 
Blue Jackie: Climate Change (Transport Funding) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:655;Page:4844] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I am pleased to speak on the first reading of the Climate Change (Transport Funding) Bill. The purpose of this bill is to alter the funding priorities of the National Land Transport Fund over time so that after 5 years funds are allocated mainly to travel demand management and infrastructure and to services supporting transport modes other than the private motor vehicle. National will be opposing this bill. This Government supports public transport and a modal shift over time but we also recognise that fewer than 6 percent of New Zealanders actually use it on a regular basis. The facts are that around 70 percent of all freight in New Zealand goes by road and about 84 percent of people go to work by car truck or motorbike. We need good roads in order to grow and compete. 
Our State highways represent 11 percent of our roading network but they cater for around 50 percent of traffic. Large chunks of our roading network are clogged with bottlenecks and delays inevitably leading to cost escalations that stifle economic growth. Accordingly the Government will invest an extra $1 billion in the State highway network over the next 3 years with the release of its revised  
Government Policy Statement on Land Transport Funding 
. Funding for State highway construction has significantly increased on levels indicated in the previous Government policy statement to 35 percent of the National Land Transport Fund with over $1 billion of additional investment going into the network over the next 3 years. The National Land Transport Fund will provide around $10.7 billion over 10 years for investment in State highways reflecting the importance of the network to New Zealanders. We have announced roads of national significance: Puhoi to Wellsford completion of the Auckland western ring route the Auckland - Victoria Park bottleneck the Waikato Expressway the Tauranga eastern corridor the Wellington northern corridor from Levin to Wellington on State Highway 1 and Christchurch motorway projects. 
We have realigned the transport budget to reflect the realities of how New Zealanders get around. The changes on the scale proposed by the Greens would result in a remarkable decrease of expenditure on the construction and maintenance of State highways and local roads. New Zealand needs to invest in infrastructure such as roading that will lift the country’s productivity and provide an economic stimulus. Such a reduction would also result in no new roading projects going ahead such as the Kopu Bridge. Importantly it would also severely restrict the New Zealand Transport Agency’s ability to progress safety enhancements on our roads. The result would be that local authorities would have to increase rates or cancel other projects in order to continue local road maintenance or face roads falling into disrepair. 
During the current global recession this bill would result in our goods not being able to reach market or people not being able to reach their workplaces. Since the bill’s drafting the concept of a Government policy statement has been introduced. It directs how the amount of Government spending is divided across the various transport categories. We are replacing Labour’s expensive and inefficient regional fuel taxes with smaller nationwide increases in excise tax that will go towards transport projects around the country. We are investing in rail and jobs for New Zealanders with $39.2 million to upgrade passenger carriages for Tranz Scenic routes and that work is being done at the Hillside railway workshops in Dunedin. Another $75 million is being spent on 20 locomotives being built in China. A major upgrade of the Auckland rail network includes double tracking and electrification involving $1.6 billion while we are providing more than $258 million for the Wellington commuter network. The Minister of Transport Steven Joyce is looking at whether a public-private partnership could be used to fund the purchase of new rolling stock required for the electrification of Auckland’s rail network. This Government is serious about getting our country moving. Thank you.