Fenton Darien: Land Transport and Road User Charges Legislation Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFenton Darien: Land Transport and Road User Charges Legislation Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 08 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:16951. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DARIEN FENTON (Labour):I am happy to take a call on Part 2 of the Land Transport and Road User Charges Legislation Amendment Bill. I think it has been an interesting discussion from the Labour and Green members of the Committee who have made a contribution to this debate by reflecting on what our transport system should be and how we use most effectively the fees that are taken from freight vehicles and others in road-user charges but also how we use the National Land Transport Fund and the money that goes from petrol excise tax into a special fund—which Labour actually did; it is called hypothecation—to build a transport system that is fair to everybody and that takes into account users of all modes of transport and that makes sure that people can get about and get to work can get to school can get to amenities and so on. That is why we see in places like Auckland where I live such a huge focus now on public transport.It was very interesting to be at the event the other day where the electrification was turned on—the member Julie Anne Genter was there too—and to see John Key turn up for it. John Key turned up and Gerry Brownlee and a whole lot of National Party MP hangers-on for this great event about electrification. I was bemused by that because actually it was a Labour Government working with the Greens in 2007 that initiated and funded electrification of the rail.Hon Annette King: Who was the Minister?DARIEN FENTON: Who was the Minister then? Well it was the Hon Annette King. It was a fantastic decision and I was very very proud to be there. There was not one bit of recognition the other day from that Government of that and also not one bit of recognition from the Government that it was Labour that did the double tracking in Auckland so that we are going to have a rail network in Auckland in the future once the Government gets over itself and funds the City Rail Link as well.The whole transport portfolio the transport policy is really important to everybody in the country. But this bill as I said is correcting a small anomaly and I want to go back and talk about another one that I encountered during the adjournment. Out in the country out in the regions travelling around the rural roads you can see it everywhere you go. This Government has sucked up funding through its roads of national significance its gold-plated highways to nowhere and regional roads and rural roads are missing out. Councils up and down the country are up in arms because the Government is reviewing funding assistance rates funding which is the funding that helps them keep their local roads in order. They are very worried because what it means is if the funding review comes out like it has been looking like it will it is going to cost ratepayers a whole lot more.But for me the most interesting visit I had was to the East Coast to Gisborne the other day where I met with some truck drivers. I know that the Road Transport Forum likes to think I am anti-truck. I am not anti-truck; I am pro - truck drivers because I think they have got a really hard job. Those two truck drivers drive forestry logging trucks. They are driving them day in and day out because forestry is booming on the East Coast. They are driving these huge rigs that they pay half a million dollars for and they are driving them on shocking roads because this Government is ignoring the funding that is needed in rural areas like the East Coast for secondary roads and it is putting those drivers to work on unsafe roads. The roads are rutted. They are unsealed. They fill up with mud. Trucks slip and slide everywhere. The culverts overflow.The forestry industry infrastructure has been neglected. It has been neglected by this Government yet the Minister sitting in the chair at the moment the Minister of Labour knows the consequences of ignoring safety in the forestry industry. He knows the consequences of that yet on one road there have been two deaths in the last 6 months—two accidents killing forestry logging drivers. I talked to these guys I met. These are hard-working guys. They are owner-drivers so they own their own businesses but they are really upset. Their comment to me was “We pay something like $53 million in road-user charges in this area. We see nothing of it—we see nothing of it.”Every day they tell me there are 10 near misses on that road. It is not just the forestry logging truck drivers at risk; a bus was run off the road the other day—it is other drivers on those roads. It is really really dangerous and as I have said forestry is booming on the East Coast and it is going to continue to grow as more trees come on line. So I cannot understand why the Government is not on to this and is not doing something to repair its critical neglect of forestry roads—in particular secondary roads—and why it has embarked on a funding review for regional councils when regional councils are so worried about how they are going to get their goods and services out and how they are going to keep their drivers safe and their road users safe. It is the same in Northland—it is the same in Northland. The mayor up there has been raising this issue and we have had no answers.Labour has an answer—Labour has an answer. We announced our forestry policy 2 weeks ago and we also announced that we would put back in $200 million of funding for critical regional roads in the forestry industry. So we have an answer for those truck drivers. They know that Labour believes that their lives are worth standing up for and doing something about and believes in helping them earn a living helping a town like Gisborne flourish helping it come along and helping this whole forestry industry which is so critical to our country. And of course we want to see value-add as well so it is not just logs coming out of the forests and to the ports.So I think there is an anomaly. There is an anomaly in road-user charges where this Government does not take into account the issue of the sole truck driver in Gisborne driving his half-million-dollar rig. Actually some have been split in half. That is how bad the roads are—their tyres split. The Government does not take that into account. It listens to the big boys. So when you have submissions on road-user charges you hear from the Road Transport Forum and others but it is not often that a lone truck driver driving on dangerous roads actually gets to have any say or gets heard by this Government. So I challenge those members to go to Gisborne meet the same drivers I did get in their rigs go on those roads and see how they feel about it and how dangerous it is and how scary it is. It is not just as I said those truck drivers who are paying their road-user charges and are keeping their trucks up to scratch as much as they can. It is not just them; it is the other road users who are also at risk.We have to take responsibility for it. This is a problem with the road-user charges system. The Government is neglecting rural roads and regional roads and our road-user charges system will not be sufficient until the Government understands that we have got to have a fair share of the National Land Transport Fund that goes not only to cities but also to regions which are so critical for our future.Simon O’Connor: Like Whangarei—that new bridge.DARIEN FENTON: Whangarei—go and talk to them in Northland absolutely.Simon O’Connor: The new bridge.DARIEN FENTON: A new bridge—but the forestry roads are shocking. People are driving off them. I have someone who rings me every morning—who lives on State Highway 1 and says “There’s been another truck gone off the road Darien.” You start monitoring it.Mike Sabin: Every morning?DARIEN FENTON: That member should start monitoring it. Government members do not like it when we—Carol Beaumont: Hitting a nerve.DARIEN FENTON: Yes hitting a nerve. You do not like it when Labour stands up for the drivers for truckies. They do not like that—they absolutely do not like that.So as my colleagues have said we are supporting Part 2 of this bill. The legislation needs to be fixed. Of course we are supporting the bill. It is a waste of time that we are having to do this. I would much rather that we were spending our time in this Chamber doing something for those hard-working forestry truck drivers those logging truck drivers who are putting their lives on the line every day to help their families and to help the economy. I would rather we were doing something about that and that instead of those members shouting across the Chamber from the other side we were putting our heads together in the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and coming up with a solution because this is dangerous work.Mike Sabin: I’ll tell you what the solution is: keep Labour from the Treasury benches. That’s it right there.DARIEN FENTON: Pardon?Carol Beaumont: Take a call.DARIEN FENTON: Take a call. That is a good idea—that is a good idea. So as I said I am pleased to support this bill.