Key John: Transport Legislation Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Key John: Transport Legislation Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:621;Page:16910] 
JOHN KEY (National—Helensville) 
: 
 My honourable colleague Mr Williamson just gave us a very extensive list of organisations that are worried about the removal of “safety at reasonable cost”. I was surprised that the Minister of Transport did not leap to his feet because he has a long list. Air New Zealand and the Aviation Association of New Zealand are not on that list; nor are Orion Origin Pacific Airways or any of those airlines. They are not on that list. The Automobile Association of New Zealand is not on that list. All the motorists of New Zealand—1.5 million; a great many motorists of New Zealand—are not on that list. The port companies are not on the list; nor are the farmers who Michael Cullen was trying to woo the other day by cutting their rates. Every business is not on the list. This is like a game. If it is not farmers or business people and it is not pilots or plane drivers and it is not Federated Farmers then who is it? 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: I can answer that. 
JOHN KEY 
: Who is it? 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Two cyclists. 
JOHN KEY 
: Two cyclists do not mind about “safety at reasonable cost”! This is from a Government that listens to the people of New Zealand! I wonder whether the Government has ever heard the expression: “If it’s not broken don’t bother to try to fix it.” 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Unless you are a consultant. 
JOHN KEY 
: Unless one is a consultant! It is not broken. Thousands of people were not marching in giving submissions saying that if only the “safety at reasonable cost” aspect had not been in the previous legislation everything would have been fixed up; everything would have been OK. That never presented at all.  
I want to refer in particular to the rail industry. Some months ago the Government injected quite a lot of cash into an entity called TrackCo. In fact it was so much cash that the Minister of Finance is not quite sure how much went in but the initial amount was in the order of around $200 million. The indications are that it was considerably more than that. That money will be going into upgrading the rail track that is in need of repair in many parts of the country. There is a risk I might add that some politicisation of the process will take place.  
But putting that to one side one of the issues interestingly that came up at the time was about bridges and fixing rail bridges across New Zealand in particular on the West Coast of New Zealand. The issue here was that Solid Energy had done some work with people in the South Island to indicate how much needed to be spent on bridges in the South Island. Originally the consultants came up with an amount of $50 million-odd. It then increased to about $71 million. In fact the real cost of fixing those bridges on the West Coast because there are hundreds of them is literally hundreds of millions of dollars.  
The Minister of Finance has the busy role these days of chaperoning the Foreshore and Seabed Bill through whatever political party of the week is willing to support it. It is most interesting. The Foreshore and Seabed Bill is like a chameleon. It changes by whatever political party of the particular week is prepared to support it. But putting that to one side I wonder whether the Minister of Finance has had an opportunity to see what is happening in the transport legislation today. He might be interested to know that with the removal of “safety at reasonable cost” and the implication that that could have on bridges in the South Island I suggest that may change the capital requirement of TrackCo. This is not just a few million dollars that we are talking about. We are not talking about the loose change in the pockets of one or two Ministers. We are talking about spending hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with the removal of “safety at reasonable cost”.  
Interestingly enough I am not surprised that the Automobile Association so keenly rejected this legislation. I say that because we have had a few incidents recently where the public has become increasingly frustrated when going out to clip their front bushes only to find a traffic officer hiding under them with his radar gun. People are out there on a Saturday morning with their clippers trimming the fences to make them nice. Someone will ask: “What’s your name sir?”. “It is the Hon George Hawkins and I am here with my radar gun to catch a speeding motorist.” It is quite an interesting scenario that happens on Saturday mornings.