Urgent Debates — Rugby World Cup—Extension to Queens Wharf Fanzone 
Urgent Debates — Rugby World Cup—Extension to Queens Wharf Fanzone 
[Volume:675;Page:21356] 
Urgent Debates 
Rugby World Cup—Extension to Queens Wharf Fanzone 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I have received letters from the Hon Trevor Mallard and Dr Russel Norman seeking to debate under Standing Order 380 the Government’s application to the Rugby World Cup Authority for an extension to the Queens Wharf Fanzone Festival and Showcase Event area. 
This is an event of recent occurrence for which there is ministerial responsibility. The Government’s application was made yesterday. Ordinarily such an application might not justify an urgent debate on the grounds that the urgent debate procedure is a means of holding the Government to account where decisions have been made. However as I indicated yesterday this is an important and controversial matter. There is a significant element of urgency. Where there is no other parliamentary means for debating an urgent matter in the reasonably foreseeable future this is a relevant consideration for the Speaker in considering whether a matter requires the urgent attention of the House. 
Given the element of urgency I consider that the matter does now require the immediate attention of the House. I therefore give priority to the first application I received—that from the Hon Trevor Mallard. I call upon him to move that the House take note of a particular case of recent occurrence. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of a matter of urgent public importance 
. National’s sudden decision to take control of the waterfront is in my belief an admission that the Government failed to ensure the security and safe passage of Kiwi fans and international visitors on the Rugby World Cup opening night. It is obvious to all of us that the focus of the Government has been on photo opportunities on smiling on waving and on making speeches that I think even you Mr Speaker would describe as inept to millions of people. It has not focused at all on the details that are important as far as safety security and related matters are concerned. 
I think all of us know that last Friday was a debacle and we will get into the reasons for that as the debate goes on. But what we are seeing now I think can fairly be described as damage control and the covering of some relatively exposed butts. John Key and his Ministers have let down rugby fans. They have damaged our reputation enormously internationally. All around the world we have seen pictures being shown of New Zealand being unable to organise what might be described as a piss-up in a brewery. 
The Prime Minister who gave an absolute guarantee that the event would run smoothly is the one whose butt is most exposed at the moment and he has given Murray McCully the job of trying to cover it up. We have still not had from the Minister of Transport any assurance whatsoever that the transport issues will be resolved. In fact he has reversed the recommendations of the Minister for the Rugby World Cup and recommended to people that they drive their cars to Eden Park in future. He has recommended further use of private vehicles rather than public transport. Therefore we are likely to have a reverse of the situation. 
I think it is fair to say that when I was the Minister in charge probably too many groups were set up but certainly groups were set up that had regard for safety—both international security and the physical safety of people. Groups were set up to do with transport and there were recommendations by the bucket load. 
But what we have heard from the Hon Murray McCully is that he did not deign to read the reports he received on becoming the Minister for the Rugby World Cup. I am sorry to say I am not surprised. Mr McCully on some occasions appears to be a person for detail. He picks the colours of the jacket for the Prime Minister to mince in. He gets down to that level of detail and that level of hands-on control. We could see hands-on control all over the place on Friday night—we could see that on Friday night. But he did not get hands-on as a Minister should have to make sure that policies were in place to ensure the safe running of this cup. 
We have had repeated assurances from the Prime Minister that this event would run smoothly. He said the thing he wanted to be judged on the most after the economy was his ability as the Minister of Tourism and Prime Minister to run a smooth Rugby World Cup. Well the chickens are coming home to roost. What we have is a Prime Minister who did not even ask the Minister for the Rugby World Cup and the Minister of Transport whether they had checked out the relevant policies and the relevant decisions of officials. 
I do not know whether all of us found the approach of the previous Prime Minister particularly comfortable on occasions but we know that her Ministers would be grilled in Cabinet and pre-Cabinet over months in advance of major events. I have a feeling that I was asked more questions in the period leading up to the bid being made for the Rugby World Cup than the present Prime Minister asked his Ministers in the 3 years they have been responsible for this event. That is the role of the Prime Minister. It is the role of the Prime Minister to lead the team and to check that they are doing the work. That is the core of the role of the Prime Minister. It is to show that leadership and to make sure that his Ministers are doing the work they should be doing. 
What has become clear is that dozens of photos have appeared like this one I have here of the Minister for the Rugby World Cup and the Minister of Transport taking credit—taking credit—for the transport. What did they do? They went to the railway station but they did not ask the questions. They went to the railway station they had their photos taken at numerous photo opportunities but the Minister of Transport did not ask whether there would be enough buses scheduled. The Minister of Transport did not ask whether any trains would be coming in from the west other than those scheduled. He did not ask: “Will more trains be coming in from the west other than those that come in every Friday night?”. No he did not ask that question. He did not know that they would fail to provide trains going that way. He did not know what would happen if the same thing happened as had previously occurred at a concert where too many people were on the trains and they got jammed up. 
What we have is the same situation after a series of warnings. At the Minister of Transport’s meeting 99 days out from the Rugby World Cup with the Auckland Council and the transport officials he got a warning—in fact the Minister of Transport got a long list of warnings. But did he ensure that those warnings were followed through and that proper contingency arrangements were put in place? No he did not and we saw the results of his laziness last Friday night. We saw the results of having two Ministers who are more concerned about the optics than the facts. Well in the end if they do not care about what actually happens it comes back to bite them on the backsides. It bites the Minister of Transport on the backside and his bench mate the Minister for the Rugby World Cup who has been savaged in his butt as a result of the exposure that has been made clear on this occasion. 
What of the Prime Minister? Who was the leading person inviting people to come to party central? Who was the person who for 18 months said: “Come down to party central and have a great time. Come from around the world to party central come from around New Zealand to party central and come from around Auckland to party central.”? Then he was surprised when more than 12000 people came. Maybe he has never been to Christmas in the Park. Maybe he has never been to an event in Auckland that has more than 200000 people there. Maybe he was not down at the Viaduct Basin in 2003 when we won the America’s Cup. Maybe before he was Prime Minister he did not go to test matches where Eden Park was full. I do not know what sort of different world the Prime Minister lives in but when Kiwis are told there is a party on they come. He told Kiwis there was a party on and they came and he said he was surprised. I think that is exceptionally sad and it was sadder still to see that he was gobsmacked that they took his advice. Well every now and again people will take the Prime Minister’s advice when he invites them to come to a party. 
Overall I say to Martin Snedden and his team—and to Jock Hobbs who was there on Friday night but unacknowledged by the Prime Minister; he was at the ground but not mentioned by the Prime Minister—congratulations on the job they have done. They have done a damn fine job putting together things around the cup the rugby and the related things for the teams. It has gone exceptionally smoothly. I say to the people who have been associated with the cultural festival associated with the Rugby World Cup that they too have been doing a damn fine job and I congratulate them. 
I say though to the people in charge—particularly the Minister for the Rugby World Cup and the Minister for Economic Development Mr Brownlee and his team—that the business programme around the Rugby World Cup is shocking. It is much much weaker than the programme around the America’s Cup in 2003 notwithstanding their having a lot longer to plan for it. 
But I will get back to saying that in the end we will be judged by this event and it is very very clear that the Prime Minister is a Prime Minister who is happy to pose for photos and is happy to take credit. I have heard no acknowledgment from the Prime Minister crediting Helen Clark for going to Korea via Dublin to get this event. I have not heard a word from him giving credit to the previous Government for getting the event. He was taking all of the credit but when it turned to custard where did he go? He hid away and left it for the hapless Minister Murray McCully to front on the issue. 
Members opposite said they were not into finger-pointing. How does Len Brown feel now? John Key said he was not into finger-pointing. He pointed the finger directly at Len Brown. What about the poor people who were sick and needed to get off the trains? The Prime Minister called them drunks. He called the pregnant woman who needed to get off the train to go to the toilet a drunk. That is what he did. That is the sort of approach the Prime Minister has been taking. 
This weekend will not be quite so big but the following weekend we will have the All Blacks versus France game at Eden Park. That will be big. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: That’ll be over in the first 10 minutes. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: That member who knows more about rugby league than rugby says it will be over in the first 10 minutes. I hope he is right—I hope he is right. There will be eight teams in Auckland for the quarter-finals and four teams in Auckland for the semi-finals. I hope those games involve the All Blacks. They almost certainly will. Those games will almost certainly involve Australians and there are quite a few of those. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: No. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Tau Henare says that they will not involve the Australians. He is the expert. He says that the Australians will not make it through to the semi-finals. I would not want to wager on that one. The semi-finals are also likely to involve the South Africans and are likely to involve the English. The four biggest crowds will be in Auckland for those semi-finals. Actually I think that will be a bigger weekend than the finals weekend as far as international visitors are concerned because a lot of them will go home. The peak time will be during the quarter-finals and semi-finals. We will be tested. 
I conclude by reiterating an offer I have made privately three times to the Minister for the Rugby World Cup. Over the period before I blotted my copybook with my friend Tau Henare I had accumulated quite a lot of knowledge as to what could be done and what should be done. I offered when he became the Minister I offered subsequent to that when the legislation was going through and I have offered again privately my assistance to make this thing work if we can because Kiwis want to make it work but it has become clear that the Government does not want us to be involved. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 I always understood that in these sorts of debates one would allocate a bit of time at the beginning for rebuttal but I listened to that speech from Trevor Mallard and I did not hear anything at all from him that I could respond to because he made up a whole bunch of stuff and apart from that he did not say much. But I did enjoy at the end of that speech his willingness to offer assistance. That rang a bell for me because I recall how good he was in Auckland back in 2006. Perhaps Mr Mallard was offering a bit of assistance with diplomacy. I have here a few press clippings from 2006 when Mr Mallard ducked and weaved his way across Auckland trying to organise himself a Rugby World Cup. He started off diplomatically by suggesting that Auckland had no vision. That was Trevor’s opening shot in the  
New Zealand Herald 
—that Auckland had no vision. He said with regard to a revamped Eden Park that it was a poor second option that showed a lack of imagination by the city. He said it showed a city that did not have a vision. Of course that went down with Auckland according to the newspaper about as easily as Mr Mallard’s Heineken moment. 
Moving along what was his next step in diplomacy and working with Auckland? He said once again that the choice of stadium showed a city that did not have a vision but that it might be what Auckland wants. Clearly he had been told off and he admitted it. Then John Armstrong wrote: “Mallard plays hardball in his Field of Dreams”. As we know Trevor is a sensitive and an inclusive guy and he said that he was quite happy for Aucklanders to choose whichever stadium they wanted as long as it was the one that he planned to build because he was always right. Then on 23 November the newspaper pointed out that “Residents and businesses in Auckland City can expect big extra rates bills for years to come if city councillors today opt … for a stadium on the waterfront.”—that is Trevor Mallard’s stadium. Brian Rudman who is normally a friend of the Labour Party—certainly he is recently—said “Let’s hope ARC has courage to vote no” on Trevor Mallard’s stadium and pointed out that Aucklanders did not want it. But Trevor Mallard continued. He then went on and got together with the mayor. I think we might recall the mayor actually: a chap called Dick Hubbard. The paper stated: “Trevor Mallard and Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard can stumble about in grief and frustration muttering that their waterfront stadium is not dead but it is.” And of course it was as dead as a duck. Finally the  
New Zealand Herald  
finished on 22 December by stating that “Mallard’s loss may be people’s gain” and so it proved to be. If that is the sort of assistance Mr Mallard would like to offer in Auckland then I think Auckland would tell him politely to disappear off somewhere else. 
The reality is that New Zealand is having a tremendous time with this tournament. It is a wonderful tournament which has started extremely well. I for one have enjoyed—and I do not often get to watch rugby these days; I am not quite sure why that is—a few games that I never thought I would watch. I was watching on TV the other night that South Africa - Wales game in Wellington which was a fantastic game. I also saw a bit of the poignant commemorations in New Plymouth of the US rugby team which had to play on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I also saw that energetic game at Eden Park last week. I saw a bit of the Scotland-Georgia game last night—only about 15 minutes. That was a dour struggle in the deep south. Wherever the rugby goes the crowds have been large. When Canada upset Tonga the other night in Whangarei the crowds were large. 
We also had a wonderful opening ceremony—a wonderful opening ceremony—at Eden Park. I do not know about other New Zealanders but I always get a little bit nervous at those sorts of events. I wonder how good the opening ceremony will be. Well I was proud from beginning to end. It was a wonderful opening ceremony. I congratulate those who put it together. There was a wonderful atmosphere down at the waterfront for the most part with 200000 people and a fireworks celebration that was truly wonderful. New Zealanders are in a mood to celebrate. Apart from that crowd over on the other side of the House New Zealanders are in a mood to celebrate. They have had just about enough of Labour’s forensic analysis as it desperately tries to lift itself off the canvas by ripping down the rest of the country. New Zealanders have had enough of that. They have had enough of Labour desperately trying to lift itself up on to the shoulders of the people in New Zealand who are determined to enjoy the Rugby World Cup. 
A number of things happened last Friday that we all believe should not have happened. They were in relation to two matters: the handling of the crowds down at the waterfront and the transport issues that arose during the evening in Auckland. Nobody was happy with those outcomes. On Tuesday morning I met with the mayor and also with Auckland Transport in Auckland and we had a very good discussion. Yesterday afternoon the Auckland Council published the reviews of those events and it made a number of comments. Under the letterhead of the organisation Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development—ATEED—it noted in terms of its own organisation a number of things it was unhappy with that need to be sorted which were the crowd management on Quay Street insufficient provision of services the main screen gantry being too close to the ferry building and some technical failure of the big screens. The council has put its hand up and said it will work with the Minister for the Rugby World Cup and fix those issues. 
In relation to transport there is no doubt that the numbers of people who tackled the public transport in Auckland last Friday night were much larger than anybody expected and there were a number of issues. As a result Auckland Transport has stood up and said it will make some changes for this weekend and I support those changes. It will arrange much larger capacity between Britomart and Eden Park with 100 additional buses. It will offer additional security: there will now be 100 staff at Britomart whereas previously there were 60. It is increasing its security presence across the network placing security staff in all carriages limiting loadings to 10 percent below the maximum and improving the number of announcements on the trains. I think those are good moves. I am confident that Auckland Transport has taken on the responsibility and the lessons from last weekend that it will act on those this weekend and that it will act on— 
Phil Twyford 
: Why didn’t you do those things before? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: That is a very interesting discussion point. Let us look at some of Labour’s attacks on the Government on this issue. Some of them are very shameless political attacks. I think it is really important that we always look not at what those members say but at what they do. A few members on that side of the House—Greens and Labour members—are suggesting that the network should have been electrified by now and that perhaps that was the Government’s fault. Well in Budget 2007 the then Government—I cannot remember which side of the House it was—said that it would set up electrification by charging Aucklanders a 10c per litre regional fuel tax. The question was when it would be done. The actual quote from Michael Cullen was “The aim is to have electrification completed by 2013.” But the Rugby World Cup was due in 2011 was it not? Oh! Michael Cullen continued: “The government has investigated the possibility of having electric trains up and running for the Rugby World Cup in 2011 but this would be too risky and costly”—oh—“in terms of sourcing material …”. This statement was made on 17 May 2007. We already knew then that we had the Rugby World Cup. And now the members of that Government have the shamelessness to get up in this House and suggest that the National Government should have sorted out the electrification in time for the Rugby World Cup. 
Ms Ardern who lives somewhere in Auckland—or does she live in the Waikato—has suggested that somehow the central business district rail link should have been built for the Rugby World Cup. Well excuse me but the 9 years of the previous Labour Government would have been needed—and some—to do that. Then of course we have Mr Twyford and his issues. He is blaming the issues of Auckland on the council organisations and saying that somehow it is the Government’s fault. Well council-controlled organisations have been around for a wee while now and the reality is that Labour in its 9 years in Government was quite happy to have council-controlled organisations. Labour was quite comfortable with those. Labour now believes they should be cancelled. This is another shameless political attack and for “Mr Twifford’s” benefit I say that Auckland Transport is the Auckland Regional Transport Authority—ARTA—enlarged. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is common courtesy in this House to pronounce members’ names correctly. Mr Twyford’s name is pronounced “Twy-ford” and the Minister knows that. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: It is correct that members should try to pronounce other members’ names correctly. Sometimes we are less good at doing it than we would like to be. All of us make mistakes now and then. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not accept that that was a mistake. The Minister has— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: We all make mistakes. I have repeatedly made mistakes with members’ names which I regret. I can think of a couple of members whose names I have mispronounced repeatedly and I regret that. I trust that the Minister will now use the correct pronunciation. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I agree with you. We now trust that the Minister will use the proper pronunciation but I do not think that anyone in the House other than you accepts that it was a mistake. He did it deliberately. He laughed as he did it as he has done on a number of occasions. If Mr Twyford were a Maori member the Minister would have been admonished a long time ago. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Believe me I have heard members in this House mispronounce Maori members’ names appallingly badly too. I ask the Minister to please show members respect by trying to pronounce their names correctly. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I am sorry Mr Speaker. It is just that I have heard the name said so often in a certain way in this House that I assumed it was said that way. But I will not pronounce it that way any more. 
Hon Rick Barker 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is not acceptable for a member to comment on a decision of the Chair which is what the member was doing. He was relitigating the matter and trying to justify his mistake. The member has withdrawn and corrected it and he should just leave it and move on. By saying that it has been a common mistake made in this House he is belittling your decision and belittling Phil Twyford whose name he mispronounced badly—and deliberately in my opinion. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I assure the honourable member that if I had thought the Minister was belittling my decision I would have pulled him up immediately but I do not think he was. We can get too sensitive about these things. I have allowed language to be used in the House in the last 20 minutes that perhaps has not previously been used in the House. I do not believe we should get too sensitive. This is a robust place. But I ask the Minister to please try to pronounce members’ names correctly. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Mr Twyford wants to blame the council-controlled organisations. He reckons that the reason it all went wrong is that those council-controlled organisations rather than the council were running the show. With the greatest respect to Mr Twyford the reality is that the councillor with the most skin in the game in terms of Auckland Transport over the last several years was Mike Lee. I do not know that I would want Mike any closer to it. As it is he is on the board of Auckland Transport. If he got any closer he would have his nose right up to the engines and we do not need that to occur in order to get a better result. The reality is that it does not take elected people—as much as we are all elected people and like to think we are pretty good at things—to run airlines railways bus companies or freight companies; it takes operators to do that and Auckland Transport is capable of doing it. To be fair to Auckland Transport the numbers last Friday were much larger than expected. Mr Twyford and his dear friend Trevor—the sensitive one—say that somehow the Government was warned some time ago about Auckland transport issues. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think I can anticipate the member’s point of order. Members in this House when referring to other members should use their correct names not just their first names—their correct names. I ask the Minister to please do that. This is twice now that he has been pulled up for mispronouncing a member’s name or not using a member’s name correctly. I do not want to do it a third time. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I have another one. I would not have interrupted the member’s speech except that the description of me as being sensitive I think we all know— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I stand corrected on that matter of course. The point is that the Auckland Regional Transport Authority report referred to by Mr Twyford and Mr Mallard was addressed by Auckland Transport and by continuing to harp on about it they are criticising Auckland Transport for not addressing that report. Auckland Transport addressed and put in place all the matters that were raised in that report. It dealt with that report and it had its preparations peer reviewed. The challenge for that organisation was that the numbers greatly exceeded what it expected. There were some operational issues between Auckland Transport and its operator which it is working on and as we know there is an inquiry under way on that. Auckland Transport is determined to take action to fix those issues. I think that is what we can ask of it and as Minister of Transport that is what I will require of it. That is its responsibility. 
As I say the Opposition’s history in these matters is frankly laughable when its members seek to criticise the Government. Their arguments and their negativity are not I think appreciated by New Zealanders. The reality is that yes of course Opposition parties have the responsibility to raise issues but the relentless negativity about the Rugby World Cup by the Opposition which is trying to lift itself off its own desperate position on the floor of politics is not going down well with New Zealanders and it is not doing New Zealand well with the Rugby World Cup. 
I will finish by saying to the organisers of the Rugby World Cup to the players to the supporters of the teams to the police and to all those who are involved in working on the Rugby World Cup event—including the transport workers the wonderful performers all the volunteers and all the other staff all around the country—that I personally think they are doing a wonderful job. I think the tournament is going very well and I think the world is celebrating with New Zealand. We will have a wonderful tournament with or without the Labour Opposition. 
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
: 
 There is definitely ministerial responsibility for this debacle and it is ministerial responsibility that goes back many years. As has come out in the reports on the debacle that were released last Friday night the big problem was the lack of sufficient transport infrastructure particularly rail infrastructure combined with on the day a lack of fall-back options in terms of extra buses communications between trains and control centres and things like that. And of course there was a problem with underestimating the numbers. That should not have happened. As I wandered around Mount Eden last week all sorts of flags of different nations were going up on people’s houses and cars. Everyone was getting into it so the size of the crowd in the downtown area particularly with the fireworks display and everything else was to be expected and adjustments should have been made. 
The real problem is the lack of transport infrastructure in Auckland. We have a city of something like 1.4 million which is about the same size as Perth in Western Australia. Yet Auckland could not handle 60000 rail passengers when Perth manages twice that amount 120000 every day. There is ministerial responsibility for that as the Deputy Mayor of Auckland Penny Hulse pointed out on Radio New Zealand National yesterday morning. She said that all the mayors had gone down to Wellington years back—4 years back—to plead for money for rail and electrification and they had been turned down. 
The Green Party was pushing and pushing and pushing and had petitions and everything else in 2006. We were saying we had to move ahead fast with the electrification but there was stalling and stalling and stalling. We were saying at the time the Rugby World Cup was granted to New Zealand: “This is our target: 2011. We can get electrification by that stage. Let’s get the money in. Let’s do it.” Of course as the lack of funding continued that target had to be cut back but at least we could have got one of the railway lines to Eden Park electrified. Mike Lee as mentioned by the previous speaker was pushing that as well. The present Government has slowed up the process even more by knocking off the fuel tax that was going to pay for some of these improvements including electrification. There has been delay and delay and delay and look where we are now. 
It is not a problem of Aucklanders not wanting public transport. When the North Shore busway came on stream the patronage was much greater than expected. Everyone has liked that busway. Even on rail despite its great inadequacies the patronage has gone up over the last decade from 1 million journeys to 9 million journeys. So there is no problem of people not wanting public transport. The event last Friday showed that if there is a bit of push to use the rail if people can see it will be useful they will take the rail. Sixty thousand people tried to and of course the infrastructure did not match up. 
Steven Joyce has been pooh-poohing for the last couple of days—and the last few weeks—the idea of a central business district tunnel. He is saying it is too expensive it is not needed and all the rest of it. Surely if that silliness on Friday showed one thing it was that we do need it. Anyone with a bit of common sense knows that if we had had a tunnel and if we had had a circle—as they have in Sydney for example and other major cities that have circles connected routes and things like that—all of the people stuck at the Britomart Transport Centre on Friday night could have gone out on the trains two ways rather than one way as at present. 
The situation in Auckland has been covered around the world now. Our public transport system and rail system is a laughing stock around the world because of the delays over years. It is tragic right now when 35 times more is being spent on roading in the current Budget than on public transport infrastructure. That is a disgrace. 
Then there is the question of the extension of the party zone. It is a common-sense thing to do—to have more room for people to move and to have more toilets and other facilities down there. That is a common-sense decision. But for the Minister for the Rugby World Cup to just kick the mayor and the council in the face—the council that the Government in effect put in place with its legislation—to say the council has failed and to declare an extension of the party zone is completely unacceptable. A very interesting article in a Victoria University paper has just come out I think yesterday or today. It is by Dean Knight a lecturer there. He said that the Minister himself was breaching the law and that the way these urgent applications worked under the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Act was that the authority had to receive the application and then make a recommendation to the Minister to decide. If the Minister decides in advance of that recommendation going before the authority then the Minister should disqualify himself. I ask now that Murray McCully disqualify himself from that decision—I do not think it has technically been made yet—and let another Minister decide as suggested by Dean Knight in this legal journal. 
It shows the problem of the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Act and the Major Events Management Act—the two Acts that were passed in preparation for this World Cup. Although there is good reason for streamlining some of the consent processes for such a big occasion what these two Acts have done in some ways is make the situation worse. Ministers and planning people have thought that if anything goes wrong at the last minute they can just rush through what they like. And there has been a dramatic failure of planning over the years. The legislation as well as being a bit of a transgression on people’s rights also allows Ministers like Murray McCully to strut around saying they can rule what they like even though technically they are going against the fine print of the legislation. That concept of all-powerful legislation is one that the Green Party has opposed in this and other cases. I think this is a good case for Parliament to be more considered in what legislation we pass. 
The whole question of the Government attacking a local body as Murray McCully has done over the last couple of days is very important. It is just not the way that democracy should work. As Brian Rudman said another person with a surname beginning with “M” tried to make the trains—I think in this case the Italian trains—go on time. Every time we see that sort of behaviour rearing its ugly head we should be concerned. 
A lot more can be done to look at this whole matter and hopefully to point the way ahead for greater public transport infrastructure: to put the money in to speed up the process to speed up the electrification to speed up the central business district rail tunnel and to speed up a railway to the airport. It would have been great to have that for our visitors for the Rugby World Cup. And there is also the connection with the North Shore. That might have helped when there is a block-up on the ferries. An underground rail tunnel from the North Shore that brought people into the central city would have been great too. 
Obviously people want to come downtown. They want to develop the wonderful Auckland downtown. Of course there is a lot to do in terms of the waterfront. The Wynyard Quarter has been a big step forward but there is a lot more to do. But if we are to develop the downtown we have to have the transport to bring people into it. 
We should do more in this Parliament to discuss this issue. My colleague Gareth Hughes asked that the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee I understand hold some sort of inquiry that fits under that select committee. That was turned down by the majority on the committee. We cannot run away from this. We have to take responsibility as a Parliament. We are discussing ministerial responsibility here but as a Parliament we have to deal with this. 
The Green Party will be making the question of public transport in Auckland particularly rail transport a major issue in this election. I think the people of Auckland see that this Government and I am sad to say the previous Government have failed to really speed up and provide what Auckland requires. 
Hon HEATHER ROY (ACT) 
: 
 I rise to speak to this urgent debate on behalf of the ACT Party. I would like to say to start with that it would be nice to see some facts involved in this debate but perhaps that is too much to ask. Mr Mallard when he first got up to speak used this as an opportunity to attack the Government. He seemed more upset I have to say that the Prime Minister had not acknowledged the contribution of Labour in getting the Rugby World Cup here than he does about the provisions of the urgent debate itself. Minister Joyce in response took the chance to have a swipe back at Trevor Mallard by using 2006 press clippings amongst other things. Although the Greens speaker used the opportunity to publicise much more broadly the Green Party’s public transport policy he did in fact get to the crux of the matter. I was very pleased to hear him acknowledge Dean Knight’s contribution his paper  
Nationalisation of RWC party central? 
. This is the only summary I have seen—the only comprehensive narrative on the issue—that actually gets to the crux of the matter of this urgent debate. 
Anyone listening of course would be much more taken I think with the political bickering opportunities that have been taken in this debate than with an examination of the facts involved which largely revolve around the two laws put in place: the Major Events Management Act and the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Act. I would contend that this action is much more about perception than it is about reality. I think it does bear some examination. What exactly is it that the Minister for the Rugby World Cup has done? What does the announcement made by Minister McCully mean? 
The Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Act was passed late last year to provide for special procedures for regulatory approvals for Rugby World Cup activities and liquor licences. Of course the independent Rugby World Cup Authority was constituted to consider these applications. The legislation itself allows for application and the process it follows but also it provides for an even more expedited process “in circumstances of urgency that for good reason was not foreseen”. A much higher threshold was required. A different and more expedited process was provided for as I have said but rather than being determined by the Rugby World Cup Authority as some seem to think is the case the authority itself only assesses the application and makes a recommendation to the Minister for the Rugby World Cup. There is no obligation to subject the application to a participatory process; it is merely a handing on once it is assessed. 
The decision about whether the approval should be granted then falls not to the authority itself but to the Minister responsible Minister McCully. He is obliged to consult the Minister for Economic Development and any other relevant Ministers. He must take into account but is not to be bound by the recommendation of the Rugby World Cup Authority and his decision is final at that point. And that is it. Those are the only special powers under the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Act and we should not lose sight of that notwithstanding the events of last Friday that have sparked this debate today. The Minister’s role which should be noted is a reactive role as ultimate decision maker once an urgent application is made and then only after the independent Rugby World Cup Authority has scrutinised it. 
The Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Act thankfully does not give the Minister the ability to take control of the waterfront or to run parties on that waterfront. A jolly good thing that is too; I do not think any of us would want to see that. So what is it that is happening now that the applications have been made? The applications presently being made urgently are conjoint applications by the Ministry of Economic Development and Auckland Council’s events team. It seems that these applications were already in the process of being prepared collaboratively before the Minister’s announcement and the fast-tracked approvals currently being sought are I have to say largely mundane. The most recent application is a joint one between the Ministry of Economic Development and Auckland Council’s events unit. The Ministry of Economic Development is seeking to use Captain Cook Wharf for fanzone events and the Auckland Council is seeking to extend the existing liquor licence over the wharf. So that will now be passed on to the Minister to decide. The Rugby World Cup Authority is considering both applications following a brief period for public submissions and it is holding a public hearing today. 
So what exactly are the problems arising from that? Well in listening to the debate today I think that probably nobody is very clear what the problems are but from an ACT perspective this is how we see things. This is not about taking control and as I have already said that is a good thing. This is not about taking control of the waterfront or taking control of any parties. Rather it is a perception that the Government is doing something. So on the other side I contend that the Government has made a meal of this when in fact very little other than what has already been talked about is happening. 
This is to do with the Minister’s special power to approve urgent applications under the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Act. It does raise a potential issue of law. It is a basic principle of administrative law that decision makers exercising statutory powers must keep an open mind and must not predetermine the outcome of applications. That ensures applications are properly considered and there is no conflict of interest. Keeping that in mind there is a live question about whether Minister McCully’s directives and public statements mean he has compromised his ability to personally consider the urgent applications. My Green Party colleague Keith Locke raised that very pertinent point in the speech he has just delivered. In such circumstances there is provision for something else to happen. Under section 7 of the Constitution Act 1986 another Minister is able to exercise that power. One of the things that I think this House should be interested in in the interest of transparency and accountability is to see whether that does in fact happen. Again my Green Party colleague raised that matter. 
Looking more broadly what is more worrying I think of the issues that have been raised as a direct result of the events on the Auckland waterfront of last Friday afternoon is the fact that the Government does appear to be saying publicly that it has no confidence in the new Auckland Council to handle these waterfront events. If it has no confidence that is indeed worrying not just for the Rugby World Cup but I would contend well beyond. It is something that we will certainly be looking at. 
I will finish by saying that we politicians as legislators need to be very careful before putting in place legislation that gives wide-ranging powers to a Government or to Ministers. We need to be very careful about empowering legislation and the power that it gives particularly to individuals. 
I hope that I have injected a little factual information into this debate and taken it away slightly if only temporarily from a “he said she said” debate about who is doing the best job of getting the Rugby World Cup here and how it is being run because that is not what this debate should be about. It should be on the provisions in place in law already and how those are being put into effect. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe. Kia ora tatou katoa. I have to say I was sort of standing in the middle of the field listening to the Hon Heather Roy. Get it? In the middle of the field? Anyway I digress. On the one hand I have that sense of real pride around the events in the opening ceremony because I was there with a number of colleagues and on the other hand I experienced the other side and the issues that have been well documented. For that little group of parliamentarians in the New Zealand Parliamentary Rugby Team—which won the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup I might add—a range of events happened. For example I arrived early. I got there on private transport and went straight into the game with no problems. The crowd was great. Yet all of my colleagues rolled in at various times having come in on public transport and were telling me about their stories. Some missed the start of the opening and they were pretty brassed off I would have to say. Some even missed the start of the game and they felt worse. 
Across the length and breadth of that Friday evening we had the full range of things that one could actually think about in terms of this particular debate. But the one thing that really worries me about this whole debate—and it is not to get into what the Minister for the Rugby World Cup should or should not do—is the issue of public safety. If there is an issue of public safety then I reckon we have to do everything we can to make sure that that is dealt with. 
I have to say that there were some warnings. There were some warnings. I can report that in my first reading speech on the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill—looking back it was on 22 June last year—I spoke about three key things. The first one was the problem of one person namely the Minister making all the decisions over matters pertaining to the Rugby World Cup. That was problem No 1. The second issue I suggested was that of the involvement of the Minister of Maori Affairs with the Rugby World Cup Authority. I thought that was quite important. The third issue that I spoke about was alcohol consumption. There were three issues and I have to say that there were some warning signs there right from the very start. 
Following on from that on 17 November last year my colleague Rahui Katene said these words—I think they are quite important which is why I pulled them up—“We have been keen to ensure appropriate management to avoid public disturbances or mass arrests from the specific liquor-licensing requirements but I raise the concern that we might be placing too much emphasis on liquor licensing and allowing people the opportunity to become inebriated while watching the rugby. For a significant sector of our population simply getting to the game itself will be an issue.” She carried on to say: “alcohol is already playing too prominent a role in the World Cup and we are concerned that the Minister for the Rugby World Cup has too much power under the bill”. That is what my colleague Rahui Katene said and lo and behold here we are today just after the start of the World Cup and most of those issues have come to pass. I reckon we sort of got it right. 
In reflecting on this the key concern that I had was around public safety. Clearly it is not a good idea to have a lot of people in a small space with alcohol. We know the various reports about delays the aggression of some people spilling out into the crowds hundreds of people on stalled trains and crowds packed in like sardines. There were elements there that could have caused some serious chaos. For all intents and purposes all of us agree that the scale was just huge; it was immense. In fact Mr Shane Jones was talking about it yesterday in the Maori Affairs Committee. He reckoned that it just needed something to spark and it could have turned that whole environment into something pretty dangerous. Having been down to the Cloud I saw that one piddly little iron fence by the side of the water might not have saved some people from going in. 
The reports also talked about some technical difficulties with some big screens further up Quay Street. That also contributed to people massing down at the waterfront. There were technical delays there were transport delays there was alcohol misuse and of course as has come to light more recently some of our waka paddlers were assaulted and abused. Again they recount that alcohol was at the heart of it. We had this awesome scene of 20 waka coming down the Waitemata Harbour and berthing there and our paddlers getting out doing the haka and trying to get back to where they came from. Lo and behold we had some alcohol-fuelled crazies who decided for whatever reason that they wanted to take certain feathers and also get in the road of our people. Young people—young girls—were assaulted and all of that. Bottles were thrown and the paddlers were physically and verbally abused simply while they were walking from point A to point B. Hair was pulled and taonga were taken. Some were questioning why the carriers—the waka kaihoe people—did not hold their waka paddles up high. Instead they held them down the side as a form of protection for those people involved especially the young people. 
I was pretty sad and brassed off to read the account from a 14-year-old girl who attends Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Puau Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. Her name is Binny McGee-Repia. Binny’s memory of the grand opening of the Rugby World Cup was of getting pushed back and hit on the head which eventually led to a CAT scan to investigate a possible head injury. One other girl suffered from shock and another girl ended up with broken ribs. All of this is not a good look and it sort of soured the occasion really because it was such a good day. 
I have to say that the other unfortunate aspect of this particular situation about the kaihoe was that despite calls for help to the police and security people or indeed to the general public there was no attempt to intervene. 
Hon Judith Collins 
: It’s just not true. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: The Minister says that it is not true but it is the account from some people to us that the general public did not help out. That is a disappointment that we hope will be addressed in future. 
In talking about dealing with what could have been a catastrophe a number of people turned up at Auckland City Hospital. There was a letter to the editor of the  
New Zealand Herald  
on Tuesday from a gentleman Les Galler who is an intensive care specialist at Auckland City Hospital. It was his assessment that Friday’s opening celebrations could easily have turned to tragedy because of the large crowds the cramped conditions and limited access and escape routes. He reported that the hospital was basically overloaded with drunk and injured revellers on Friday and that ambulances had to take patients to other hospitals. 
Against all that and on the positive side we had Precious Clarke with the sound of the karanga to open the Rugby World Cup we had the Pacific Island dancers and drummers and we had of course Te Arawa kapahaka Te Matarae i Orehu. The ceremony as I say was awesome. We also had Ria Hall who sang. She is from Tauranga but lives in Wellington. I send a special message to her to say that she was awesome. There were some great things there—the fireworks and all that sort of stuff—and of course the moment with Jonah Lomu walking hand in hand with the young boy from Canterbury. That was pretty powerful in itself. It was a great great occasion to be at and we hope that the positiveness takes over from all of the negativity that we have had to run through. 
In the end I think it is important that we consider where we go to from here. We welcome the news that the Auckland Council will compensate for Friday night’s fiasco by rewarding affected fans with tickets to the semi-finals but we would really like to talk about crowd control as opposed to compensation. Our collective efforts must be given to ensuring that party central on Queens Wharf is well managed in order to avoid more Rugby World Cup chaos. I think it is important that we get it right. Things are tracking along quite well as other speakers have said with the games being managed pretty effectively. The test may come this weekend. 
I reflect on the reaction from the Mayor of Auckland Len Brown who urged us all to keep calm and carry on. In that regard he has probably set the scene for what we need to do. If the measures that are being contemplated today are about taking us through to having a positive end to the Rugby World Cup then we should all get right behind them and ensure at the end of it that not only is public safety dealt with and taken care of but also everybody has a good time while we are at it. Kia ora tatou. 
DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert) 
: 
 It has been a remarkable few days and I mean remarkable in a number of ways. It is remarkable in the sense that the opening of the Rugby World Cup really was a world-class event. It is something that we are particularly proud of. As New Zealanders I think we can be particularly proud of it. Many of the events that have been going on around the country have been remarkable as well. People have touched on some of those great games that we have seen being played already and we are only a few days into it. 
I pay tribute to the many many people who have helped to put the Rugby World Cup together right from its inception right through its organisation. They are the people associated with the rugby along with the various councils around the country that have been trying so hard and still try so hard to make this an amazing success for New Zealand. 
But the last few days have also been remarkable—and we have touched on this today—for what happened down on the waterfront in Auckland and on the way to Auckland. We had some problems and we know what those are. We know what those are. There was a failure of the public transport system. There was an under-catering for the number of people whom we expected to be down there. One cannot just ask everybody to come down and party and not think about how many people will come down. 
What we really needed after that was some cool calm thinking about what happened what went wrong and how to fix it for next time. But instead what we got was “Mr Panic Pants”—Murray McCully—coming down waving himself all over the place and saying that he will declare martial law down on the waterfront of Auckland and he based that on the Rugby World Cup (Empowering) Act. That was a very very dubious means to use as the basis for being able to do that I say to Mr McCully. He might have wanted to think about what exactly he needed to do before he made all those blustering sweaty announcements just the other day. He should have talked with the Auckland Council. He did not even give the council the courtesy of a phone call. If he had sat down with them he may have found out that they had been looking at this issue for many many days and had actually worked out a plan of action. That plan of action was publicised yesterday and it addresses many of the problems that we have been facing on the waterfront and in our transport system. But no we have had “Mr Panic Pants” coming down and blowing himself around the place and declaring that he is in charge now yet he does not even have the legislative backing to enable him to do that. 
His incompetence and his inability is matched only by that of Mr Joyce; the rear-visionary Mr Joyce who spoke in the Parliament just a few minutes ago. Mr Joyce says he has been very busy over the last few months opening up railway stations all over Auckland. He has been claiming credit for the double-tracking of the western line the electrification of the railway all the increases in rolling stock for turning up and opening the railway stations at Onehunga New Lynn Kingsland and Newmarket and also the northern bus route. But these were all things that the Labour Government put in place in its last few years. Mr Joyce has had the ability to open them but he has given no thought to what comes next—absolutely nothing. 
He has done nothing for public transport since he took on that job. All he has done is been at the opening of Labour initiatives. He has done absolutely zero. In fact he has managed to neglect Auckland’s transport pour cold water all over the rail-link which is so important for Auckland’s transport future. He looks backwards and thinks what we need to do is build bigger and wider roads. Well Aucklanders do not want that; they want a world-class transport system for a world-class city. They want to see National Party members sitting down with the Auckland Council and working this out together. 
NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak on this urgent debate. The first thing I want to say is that although there were a number of issues last Friday night there have been a lot of things happening that we have to be proud of in this country. I just want to reflect on the month that built up to Friday night because Auckland has had an incredible month. We opened Wynyard Quarter we reopened the Auckland Art Gallery and we opened the new Q Theatre. I personally opened many different public amenities within Auckland. When we combine that with one of the greatest fireworks displays and an early September summer we see why we had an extraordinary turnout of 200000 people on our waterfront. 
We have to acknowledge that there were some serious issues on Friday night in respect of Auckland’s transport system and the crowd management on Auckland’s waterfront. In terms of the transport system I am very pleased that members on this side of the House are focused on resolving these issues because the world is watching New Zealand. As I said before we have delivered on a number of things for the Rugby World Cup. The message that I have been given from Aucklanders is that they want these issues addressed and they want them fixed but they are very proud of all of the things that are happening around the Rugby World Cup. 
In terms of transport the Minister for the Rugby World Cup has moved quickly to meet with the Mayor of Auckland and to resolve the issues of Auckland’s transport system. In terms of the waterfront it is not OK to just sit and do nothing. The mayor is working with the Rugby World Cup Authority to ensure an application that is currently going through will be considered by Ministers. But the real message that I want to get across today is that we are focused on fixing these issues because we have 95000 visitors who have come here from around the world and we are determined to ensure that they have a wonderful tournament. We are also determined to ensure that Aucklanders are able to celebrate the Rugby World Cup. 
I will mention a couple of other areas where I have had incredible feedback from around Auckland and from around New Zealand actually about the Rugby World Cup. Firstly there are cash injections for many small businesses happening as we speak. They have had a couple of really tough years because of the recession but we saw figures out the other day that there is an estimated benefit of at least $400 million to the New Zealand economy. We also know that 2000 international media have turned up and we have exceeded expectations in terms of the 95000 international visitors. We have 5000 volunteers. They are ordinary New Zealanders who are stepping up to ensure that this tournament is a success. We are focused on fixing the issues with transport and fixing the issues around crowd management but there are many great things happening around New Zealand and around Auckland. We are very proud of these things. 
Let us contrast that with some of the arguments that have been raised by certain Opposition members. I can tell the House that Aucklanders are saying to me that they can see through this. Three or four arguments have been raised. The first was that we should just get rid of the super-city and that for some reason the transport problem is just a failure of the super-city. That is absolute rubbish. All of the people involved—and many Opposition members turned up to many of the openings that I mentioned—can see that Auckland is finally progressing whether it is through the opening of Wynyard Quarter or the reopening of the Auckland Art Gallery. We are finally seeing our city come together. I am just very proud to see that the mayor and the Government are working together to resolve these issues to ensure that we take Auckland to that next level and ensure that Auckland becomes a world-class city. 
The second argument raised is that somehow this problem is a failure of council-controlled organisations. As the Minister of Transport mentioned to Opposition members council-controlled organisations have been around for a very long time in this country. The third argument raised by Opposition members is that somehow this is about public transport and a long-term problem with infrastructure investment. I am proud that our Government has invested $1.6 billion in the electrification of rail and Auckland will be getting 57 new rail carriages. The fact is that that would not have solved the issues that happened on Friday night. 
Finally I say that we have a very clear contrast in this House. We have 95000 international tourists in this country who are here to celebrate the Rugby World Cup and we have many New Zealanders—a record audience—who enjoyed a wonderful opening ceremony. It celebrated our nation and our sporting prowess as a nation. I tell members that we are focused on ensuring that this tournament is a success. I am proud to be part of a Government that is not only addressing the issues but also ensuring that we are showing our best face to the world in what is the greatest tournament ever. Thank you. 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 I agree with one or two things in the speech made by the member for Auckland Central—amazingly I do. She is right that some really exciting things are happening in Auckland. But you know what? Most of them were begun by the last Labour Government. The Rugby World Cup was secured by Helen Clark. The Wynyard Quarter revitalisation was begun under the last Labour Government. All of the improvements to the Auckland rail network and transport system—the Northern Busway electrification of the rail network double tracking of the western line new stations at Kingsland and Newmarket and the New Lynn upgrade—were committed to and funded under a Labour Government. Nothing—nothing as my colleague David Shearer has just said—has been added to that list of achievements since Steven Joyce became the Minister of Transport under this Government. 
Nikki Kaye raised the issue of council-controlled organisations so for the benefit of Ms Kaye and Steven Joyce the transport Minister I will explain to them and remind them why three Government departments advised this Government that the Auckland Transport Agency should not be set up as a council-controlled organisation. Treasury the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Transport all advised this Government that the transport agency would be more accountable to the public if it were run as a unit of the Auckland Council but all that Steven Joyce could do in the House today was launch a nasty personal attack on Mike Lee suggesting that he wanted to manage the day-to-day operations of the transport agency. Well no one is suggesting that. The transport agency in Auckland that is corporatised is the only transport organisation that is run by a council or that belongs to a council. It is the only one in New Zealand that is corporatised and this Government imposed that on a reluctant Auckland against the advice of three Government departments which all said that it would be less accountable. 
If there is one issue we have been debating for the last week in this House and if there is one issue that has jumped out of the fiasco that occurred in Auckland on Friday night it is accountability. Day after day in this House since the fiasco on Friday we have seen duck-shoving by this Government and a refusal to stand up and take responsibility for the debacle that occurred on Friday night in Auckland. 
There are many reasons why this Government should be accountable for the fiasco that occurred. We have had John Key standing up and putting his smiling face in front of the camera on dozens and dozens of occasions as he has invited the world to come down to party central a party zone that he personally selected. It is a tiny little strip of land on Auckland’s waterfront that can hold a maximum of 15000 people. But what has he done week after week for the last 2 years? He has been out there exhorting the world of rugby fans to come down to party central. Is it any surprise that 200000 people turned up to his party? No it is not. New Zealanders love a party rugby fans love a party and the Prime Minister has been inviting them down there. 
Because of the Prime Minister’s advocacy for party central the original plan that was put up by the Auckland Council for a number of different fanzones a number of different party zones fell by the wayside as all the attention went on to party central. But where is the Prime Minister now that it has turned to custard? He is nowhere to be seen because you know what? No decent photo opportunities are to be had when train passengers are dangerously scrambling up banks after getting out of railway carriages they had been locked into for the previous couple of hours. That is not the kind of glamorous photo opportunity that this Prime Minister seems to like. 
The Government has been micro-managing this issue; its fingerprints are all over it. Only a couple of weeks ago this Government made the decision—against the advice of Government officials—not to grant a half-day teacher-only day for Auckland schools. If the Government had taken that decision differently 300 buses would have been freed up to run as a reserve fleet in case something went wrong with the travel arrangements last Friday night. But what did this Government do? It rejected that advice. The upshot and consequence of that was that there were no spare buses in Auckland as an emergency fleet when things went wrong with the transport operation. 
This Government made that decision yet day after day we have seen that its Ministers have refused to stand up in this House and be accountable for it. What have they done? They have taken every opportunity to sheet home the blame for what happened last Friday night to the Mayor of Auckland Len Brown. Of all the people in this drama Len Brown has shown a dignified positive and constructive response. He has been willing to take his share of the responsibility for what went wrong on Friday night—unlike this Government. Len Brown’s officials were working with Government officials from last weekend to try to sort out the problem and to work out what needed to be done to make sure another debacle did not occur. From Sunday council officials were working with Government officials to work out what needed to happen. But what did Murray McCully do? Just like Muldoon he called a press conference and issued an edict. He did not even have the common decency to ring Len Brown and tell him what he was doing. Like some little tinpot dictator he pretended to extend martial law over the Auckland waterfront as if he were the big man as if he were taking control and as if he were taking responsibility. But what was he doing? He was simply enacting the same reserve powers under the Rugby World Cup legislation that the council and Government officials were planning to use together in a positive and constructive way. What has Murray McCully done? He has publicly given the elected Mayor of Auckland a slap in the face. 
Well what is it with this Government? What is it with this Government that it cannot work constructively with Auckland? Its relationship ranges from finger-wagging and lecturing to abuse. What did we see 6 months ago? We saw Murray McCully abusing the chair of the Auckland Regional Council on television in the media because he did not have the social skills and the political skills to negotiate some kind of constructive agreement with the elected leadership of Auckland over what was going to happen on Queens Wharf. That is typical of this Government’s relationship with Auckland. Every step along the way the behaviour of this Government has looked like a calculated insult to the people of Auckland. The Government has treated Auckland’s elected leadership with contempt. We saw that the other day when a number of Cabinet Ministers sat down with the Auckland Council to give it feedback on the draft Auckland plan. What did those Ministers say to the Auckland Council? They said: “Oh yes we think your plan’s really good except don’t think that this ridiculous idea of having metropolitan urban limits in a compact city is going to fly—don’t think that is going to fly. We don’t support your idea of a compact city and while you’re at it you can forget this idea of a city rail link because that’s never going to get off the ground while this National Government is in office.” They treated the Auckland Council with contempt like a bunch of hick gangsters blowing into town and pretending that they know best. 
When it comes to Auckland this Government always knows best. We saw that in the super-city process. We saw it with all the discussions about the council-controlled organisations where this Government insisted on corporatising Auckland Council’s operations—75 percent were turned over to the council-controlled organisations. We saw it by the way they rammed the super-city down the throats of Auckland without giving the people of Auckland a say in a referendum. 
David Shearer made the case that this Government has no interest whatsoever in modernising Auckland’s transport system giving it an overhaul and making it a world-class transport system. If there is one thing that we can conclude from the debacle last Friday night it is that Auckland is desperately overdue for a modern world-class transport system. But this Government does not want to pay any attention to that. Every single opinion poll in the last 2 years in Auckland has shown that there is one thing that Aucklanders want to see fixed by the super-city and it is public transport. Yet what is this Minister doing? He is robbing every other piggy bank in the transport budget he is robbing rural roads he is robbing road safety and he is robbing urban public transport to fund his gold-plated “roads of National Party significance”. What did the Minister do when he rocked up to the Auckland Council meeting a couple of weeks ago? He poured cold water on the thing that Aucklanders most want to see: a modernisation of the rail system and construction of the city rail link. 
Friday’s debacle showed that the Auckland public transport system is antiquated and run down. We are using rolling stock that came from Perth 20 years ago. It desperately needs an overhaul. It is time this Government opened its ears and listened to Auckland and learnt to work constructively with Auckland. That is what Aucklanders want to see. 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 Labour is desperate to get back in the game—absolutely desperate. What we have heard this afternoon is more desperation from Labour members with their rock-bottom polling results. They are worried about their marginal seats like that of the previous speaker Mr Twyford in Te Atatu. So what are they doing? They are raking over a few of the issues that happened during the opening of the Rugby World Cup and they are forgetting about all the positive aspects of the Rugby World Cup. They are raking in the mire trying to score political points and shore up a few votes in the marginal seats of Auckland in the last dying days of this sitting of Parliament before we move into the true campaign. But I have some news for Labour members: no one is listening to them. Not one person in Auckland is listening to them. 
Let us move to some of the positive things. I was there at the opening. It was fantastic. I tell members that we showed what a fantastic culture we have. We showed our Maori and Pacific heritage; we showed the pride we have in sport and also in winning. The fantastic thing is that this was broadcast to over 200 countries around the world. Was it not fantastic when the Prime Minister got up to speak? Practically the whole of Eden Park roared with joy. I thought that was fantastic. 
What we are hearing this afternoon from Labour is just what we heard when we had the debate over  
The Hobbit 
. They hate  
The Hobbit 
; now they are rugby haters. They hate  
The Hobbit 
 and they hate the Rugby World Cup. What they should think about in relation to just the first couple of days after the opening ceremony in Auckland is the fact that it has generated for retailers up and down the country $2.8 million of foreign transactions over 3 days—in just 3 days. We all know that we are going to have a huge stimulus from the Rugby World Cup. Yet in the last 2½ to 3 years all we have heard from the other side of the House was: “Where are the jobs? Where’s the stimulation? Where is the regional economic development?”. Now they want to tear down the Rugby World Cup and stamp all over it. They should be ashamed. 
Let us think about some of the positives that came out of that opening. April Ieremia wrote in the  
New Zealand Herald 
: “better than Olympics … a phenomenal opening ceremony … I have been to a number of Olympic and Commonwealth Games … and it surpassed them all.” Even the  
Daily Telegraph  
had a headline which read: “Kiwis light up night on and off the pitch”. There is already a sense of carnival taking place. 
Yes there were some issues and I will talk about those now. I think it is appropriate that the Rugby World Cup Authority steps in and works closely with the council and with Auckland Transport as well. Yes there were some issues. Yes we need to open up more capacity at the waterfront. Yes there were some issues in transport that have now been addressed. Moving forward they will be tested this weekend. There will be an extra hundred buses 400 extra security staff—moving that to a hundred at Britomart—which will be really important and extra security on those trains. Yes there is a message that has come out of this: we need to look at getting tourists and New Zealanders to Eden Park in a multi-model system. They cannot expect just to get on trains because when the trains stop it means that the network stops. So we have to think about getting on the buses also utilising the trains and using private vehicles. In some cases tourists and New Zealanders will choose to walk to the ground. 
There are a couple of other things that I will conclude with. It is not often that I agree with Trevor Mallard but this afternoon when I heard him speaking I did agree with one thing. He said that the cultural festival was a damn fine job and well done to them. I presume what Trevor Mallard was mentioning was the REAL New Zealand Festival. The Lotteries Commission gave $9.5 million to get that off the ground which is fantastic. It was oversubscribed: there were $74 million worth of applications and 170 applications were chosen. Up and down the country now we see New Zealanders engaging with the Rugby World Cup and Rugby World Cup tourists getting off the highway and engaging with provincial New Zealand and getting involved in some of the activities that are happening from the Far North down to the bottom of the South. They are things like A Taste of Southland the Whitianga Scallop Festival and the celebrations in the giant rugby ball that is up in Auckland—these fantastic activities. 
Labour wants to tear down the Rugby World Cup and trample all over it. On this side of the House we want to embrace it. We want to celebrate that a hundred thousand tourists are in New Zealand. We will ensure that these issues are sorted out for New Zealanders and for our visitors. We should be celebrating the biggest event in this country not dragging it down into a cesspit as Labour wants to do. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.