Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Speaker and I rise on behalf of the National Party in support of the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill which is having its third reading today. I just want to start my comments by referring to where the Minister started which was he was talking about the Road to Zero strategy and he talked about how the genesis of this piece of legislation started with some consultation in 2019. Well the reality is—and I think it's important as we debate this legislation here at its final reading—that the genesis of this piece of legislation took place two years earlier when the incoming Government was advised of the need in 2017 of legislation to implement a roadside drug-testing regime in New Zealand. It was the Green Party Associate Minister Julie Anne Genter who said No thanks—no thanks. We don't want to do that because it's going to breach some people's human rights under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act." She didn't think about asking some more questions and trying to get some more information—Chlöe Swarbrick: Point of order Madam Speaker. That's misrepresentation of the opposition that the Hon Julie Anne Genter had to this bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Thank you. That is not a point of order. I call Simeon Brown. SIMEON BROWN: Thank you Madam Speaker. And so the incoming Minister was advised of a need of some legislation to introduce a random roadside drug-driving testing service in New Zealand by the police and that was rejected. That advice was rejected back in 2018 by the then Minister. But it's the Labour Party who was in Government and they agreed with the Associate Minister of Transport—rather than working with the National Party who would have supported them to bring legislation into Parliament to address this important issue. I'll tell you why this is an important issue—because the Minister of Transport talks about the need to reduce the death toll on our roads and to reduce the number of serious injuries and we couldn't agree more. The facts speak incredibly strongly to the need to act in this area: in 2014 there were 18 deaths on our roads where the person causing the death was impaired by drugs; by 2019 that had increased to 107—107. That's over five times as many deaths being caused on our roads and all of that time the Government has said "No thanks." and then they said "We're going to put it out for consultation." Then finally at the very very last hour of the last Government in the last Parliament they introduced this piece of legislation to Parliament and here we are two years later about to give it a third reading. And thank goodness for that because this legislation has been long overdue and it's something which is needed to actually address one of the biggest and one of the fastest-growing causes of deaths and serious injuries on our roads. So I just want to acknowledge all of the parties who have been involved in bringing this bill to the House: the select committee the submitters and for the expert advice in bringing this bill to the position it is in now. Now the message is that we need to see it implemented and we need to make sure that our police have the resource so that they are able to actually act with the powers that are contained inside this piece of legislation. Because the reality is with the number of people who are suffering from serious injuries or deaths on our roads caused by drug-driving this has to be one of the biggest priorities when it comes to trying to reduce the drug-driving. We've got a Government which has got a strategy and the Minister has got a big red zero. But he's taken four years—4½ years.Hon Scott Simpson: That was his rating.SIMEON BROWN: "That was his rating." says the Hon Scott Simpson. That might be the number of metres of light rail he's delivered as well. You could use that for a number of things. But the hard serious fact here is that this is something which should have been done far far sooner. The reality is—what we know that this piece of legislation is going to do—it will be a deterrent. The reality is at the moment we know that with drink-driving the police have a job they've got the powers. That legislation was introduced back in 1993 and there was a subsequent reduction in the number of deaths and serious injuries where drunk-driving was the cause behind those accidents. So we know that this legislation is going to have an impact. The next thing which needs to be done is the Government needs to make sure that the police have the resources to be able to do that. I have serious questions at the moment around how that resourcing is taking place in the road safety partnership area between the New Zealand Transport Agency and the police. Only last year the police delivered only half of the required 3 million breath tests on our roads; 1.5 million were delivered against a target of 3 million. So the reality is there will be serious questions which need to be asked to make sure that they're able to deliver on those targets and also on this piece of legislation to make sure that it is as an effective deterrent as it can be. The reality is that this will have an impact not just as a deterrent but in terms of the lives that it will save the families who would otherwise have been impacted—but also just the very clear message that this Parliament sends to people who wish to go on the roads after taking drugs that that is not OK. It is not OK to do that and we've seen the television messages and we've seen the ads on TV but there are now legislative powers for the police to be able to stop you to be able to test you and to be able to potentially even prosecute you for that offence—and to be able to make sure that those tests are done in an accurate way and that there is a fair process around that. So the National Party supports this piece of legislation. Our hearts go out to the many hundreds of people who have been affected by drugged drivers. I know my former colleague the Hon Nick Smith if he was here would be referring to the young man Matthew Dow 23 years of age from Nelson who was tragically killed by a drugged driver back in 2017. These are stories which are far too often heard throughout our country and it is so important that we get this legislation passed we get it implemented and we get that road toll down through this legislation. Thank you Madam Speaker."