SpeechMATT KING (National—Northland): Oh look that speech from Ron Mark was a comedy routine if ever I've heard one. I've got to say it was mildly amusing about him saying that I should be thanking Labour for not doing an electoral deal with New Zealand First to get into Northland. I beat your leader by just sheer hard work and door-knocking by a newbie in 40 years and I—you know just the good old-fashioned way of knocking on doors. That's how I did it. But I've got to admit he had 2½ years to show everyone that he was going to do absolutely nothing in the North so this bill in a nutshell is robbing Peter to pay Paul. I'm sorry but we've just got to talk about economics here and you talk about this cross-subsidising. Why should the people that use the roads and pay their road-user charges be subsidising people that use rail? I'll give you the Northland example—I'll give you the Northland example. New Zealand First in order to try and win the Northland seat are pouring money into rail in Northland OK? What I can tell you about why—and it wasn't managed decline. That's like saying Nine years of neglect." or whatever other words that you guys use all the time and they just keep saying it over and over again as if it's going to be true. In Northland they built the rail up there when they had a heavily regulated trucking regime so rail could compete with trucks only because the trucks were hampered in doing what they had to do. So they put rail up there and in the whole time that they've had rail in Northland it has never ever paid its way. It's never paid its way. So what happens is commercial operators vote with their feet. I myself ran a business where I had to get stock up from warehouses in Auckland. There is no way that I would use the train to get it up there. I needed it overnight point to point. I needed it and there was no way that the train would ever compete with a truck. I'm just one guy that owned a shop and there are thousands of us business people with a bit of nous that vote with our feet OK? So I know that for trains to compete with trucks they have to have bulk and they have to have distance. That's how trains compete. So if you've got bulk and distance trains can compete head-on with trucks. In Northland we've got neither. There is nothing bulk in Northland that will go down that Northland line. There are logs from scattered forests all over Northland that have to get on a truck to get out of the scattered forests. Even if there was a train track near the forest and the train track went all the way to Northport where the logs go it is still uneconomic to unload the logs off the truck and put them on the train and send them there and that is just pure basic economics. That is why rail will never work in Northland. I sit there and I watch these announcements these sod-turnings these staged things with a KiwiRail train on a track and they're putting a spade in the ground and millions if not billions of dollars of taxpayer money is going into buying the Northland seat. This is just money that we are throwing away and I think in their heart of hearts New Zealand First members know it. I think they do because I've spoken to some of the people involved in Northport and they have told me that. They have told me that Winston Peters said that "National's got the roads of national significance. We're going with rail. I know it's a loser but we're going with rail." That is what I heard. So in Northland we've got money being poured into an uneconomic train track that will never ever be economic and they might argue that "Well OK we're going to shift the port. A port shift could justify an upgraded train track." Yeah in 20 or 30 or 40 years or whenever this potential port shift's happening. Yeah maybe an upgraded train track will work but in the meantime we need a four-lane highway—that's the first thing we need. That's what we need first and guess what! It got cancelled by this Government. Oh! It broke my heart—it broke my heart. But on the flip side—this is not comedy Ron Mark so you shouldn't be laughing. This is not comedy. It broke my heart—it broke my heart. So using the road-user funding we're building Pūhoi to Warkworth. We're building it now. So I was campaigning on the campaign trail when there were 400 or so workers building that highway and your boss—Winston Peters—was saying that not a sod had been turned. I said "Actually you can go online and watch drone footage of it being built." when we were on the campaign trail. He also said that we were not building the bridges and there are the Matakohe bridges—two beautiful bridges—and the Taipā bridge. So the only thing of infrastructure—Hon Member: Taipā Bridge? Come on.MATT KING: That's a $14 million beautiful Taipā bridge. It's a beautiful double-lane bridge. It's open—I was there. I was there. That was us—that was us. But I tell you what if these guys get this bill through which they no doubt will—they've got the numbers; the Greens are jumping on board—they're going to pull money out of that fund so we're going to have less roads and less bridges and they're going to pour it into uneconomic train tracks. Uneconomic train tracks. So we announced that we were going to start building from Whangārei to near Northport—that's what we were going to do—because it makes sense to build from both ends to get that motorway under way. We announced that in 2019 and this Government cancelled that road. They cancelled it. So all we got was a roundabout in Whangārei. At the top end of it in Whangārei we've got a nice roundabout so yep we'll give you that—that's being built. But we got that—that bit of section of road that's been cancelled. But—hello—in 2020 we need some shovel-ready projects and there are none so they're going to have to go back and revisit the council projects of National. So now they've told me that they are possibly going to build that road. It might be during the campaign. Now Ron Mark might come up there. New Zealand First is going to hit Northland and I can see it now. I can see all their MPs there. They're going to hit it—I can feel it. They're going to throw everything at it. They're going to throw everything at it to try and win a seat to keep alive. They've announced that oh they're going to reinstate that road so everyone in Northland thought "Oh well at least they're going to do one of the roads of national significance that are National's projects." but when you read the fine print there's not going to be a sod turned until 2024—2024. There are two elections to go and I'm thinking what are the chances of New Zealand First surviving for two more elections? So I'm telling Northlanders look these guys have made promises up the wazoo. They have made promises up the wazoo: a $3 million fund; $300-and-something million actually hit the bank accounts of the people. But I've been to so many sod-turnings with funny little spades with Shane Jones. I've never complimented him. Despite what he's said I've never complimented him but I've been to all his openings. In fact for one roundabout in Waipapa that's not even started yet I've been to two openings. I've been to a dawn blessing and then a sod-turning and I managed to get a spade. I got one of the spades. Shane Jones allowed me to have a spade so I was involved in that sod-turning. Quite frankly that's a good roundabout and it is just up the road from his house. It is up the road to be fair but you know we're going to another sod-turning on Tuesday for a roundabout just down from his house. So just north of his house we're doing one roundabout. That's just about to start although nothing's been shifted yet but it's just about to start. Then a few kilometres south another roundabout—a good roundabout. I really like it. I'm glad it's happening. But I'll be hopefully getting in on a sod-turning with Shane Jones there and so that's what happening. But this thing—I mean they spent $6 million on upgrading a track somewhere down south. I don't know if it was in Napier or somewhere? Hon Member: Yeah somewhere round there. MATT KING: Yeah $6 million upgrading it and that was going to take trucks off the road. What is it one or three trains—I don't know—Hon Members: One. MATT KING: One—one. I thought it was three. That was done in January and there's been three trains on it. So—Hon Members: One. MATT KING: Oh one—oh sorry one. Oh no! So anyway up North all we've had is plastic sticks—so we've got beautiful plastic sticks going down the middle of our highway—and there's been a couple of areas where they've widened the road a bit and that's it in three years. In three years and all these announcements and all this money we've got some plastic sticks and a slightly wider road and just starting on a roundabout is what we've got for all the promises that this Government's made in the North. I understand. I heard that to get approved for the Provincial Growth Fund you had to have a ribbon-cutting ceremony just before the election and it—[Interruption] Yeah yeah yeah. So the criteria were for it to be in Northland—that's the big plus. If it's in Northland that's a real big plus—tick—or Tai Rāwhiti I think is the other thing but Northland's great and then cutting the ribbon just before the election. Can we do that? Can we do that and can we say it creates jobs? If you've got those three then you're away—that was what I heard. So anyway this is a disgrace of a bill and we do not support it."