Coddington Deborah: Land Transport Management Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Coddington Deborah: Land Transport Management Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:613;Page:9694] 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON (ACT) 
: 
 Part 3 is the essential part that changes the statutory objectives of Transfund and Transit to broaden the focus of each entity—the administrative provisions relating to Transfund. Let us look at what this means. Clause 70(1) states: “The objective of Transfund is to allocate resources in a way that contributes to an integrated safe responsive and sustainable land transport system.” What is a land transport system? Land transport according to clause 5 means: “(i) transport on land by any means:” plus “(ii) the infrastructure goods and services facilitating that transport:”. Under this bill there are road-user charges of which as we have already heard only $7 of every $50 that is spent on petrol goes into the roads. The rest goes into Government taxes. Even more of this will be spent on other things. This legislation is so loosely defined. 
I ride my horse every weekend around the Rodney electorate and I could argue that under this legislation this Government should hand out road-user charges to me for my horse—and not just for the horse but for the blacksmith as well because it provides money to infrastructure goods and services facilitating that transport. Why on earth should the people who use the roads have that money sucked off and put into the fact that I ride a horse? I choose to ride a horse because I think it is environmentally sound. I do not see many Greens out there around that electorate riding horses. Does that member see them? [ 
Interruption 
] I do not see them riding bicycles for that matter. But under this legislation the Government could put money into the blacksmith the stables and the vet and take from me all the responsibility for paying for my own form of transport that I choose to use in the weekends. It could take all the responsibility for that from me and load it on to the poor old motorist who gets whacked every time. 
Do members know why this legislation is anti-car? Because that is what it is; it is anti-car. Why is it anti-car? It is because cars represent freedom. Cars represent freedom of choice for people who choose to get around— 
Opposition Members 
: Oh! 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: “Oh!” those members say laughing away. What does that Government know about mothers who have to get across Auckland and pick up children from four different places? This party knows about bringing up children. This party knows about having children. The three women ACT members have 11 children between them. What does that Prime Minister know about bringing up children? What does that Prime Minister know about picking up one’s kids from soccer and music picking up someone else’s kids from school and running all around town? That is what using a car means. That is what freedom of choice means. 
This Government would not have a clue what it is like for an average family to get around Auckland—or Tauranga for that matter—or any other city where there are problems with the roads. It is not just in the cities but out in the rural areas too where the roads are in an appalling state. This legislation because of the changes to the provisions for Transfund and Transit will do nothing. In fact it will do even less for the roads. Under this legislation especially Part 3 that money can be used for anything—any land transport; any means of transport on the road. This is an absolute disgrace for New Zealanders for New Zealand working families who are having even more choice taken off them. 
 I have no problem with people using public transport but it is always the same—whenever one goes to a public meeting people say: “We need more public transport. We need more money for public transport.” but when one says at the end of that meeting: “Who came to this meeting using public transport?” they all shake their heads; not a single person. Well public transport will not be there if they do not use it. If people do not use it they lose it. The reason people do not use public transport in New Zealand is that we are wedded to the car because it affords us much greater mobility. We are a nation of people who actually like freedom of choice. We do not like central planning or central control which this legislation brings back in terms of shifting the focus of Transfund and Transit which were operating very well. It was not so much the lack of funding that stopped roads getting built; it was the Resource Management Act.