Parker David; O'Connor GregThird ReadingHon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Transport): I present a legislative statement on the Land Transport Management (Regulation of Public Transport) Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon DAVID PARKER: I move That the Land Transport Management (Regulation of Public Transport) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.This bill amends the Land Transport Management Act 2003 replacing the Public Transport Operating Model—sometimes called PTOM—with a Sustainable Public Transport Framework. The introduction of this new framework will support the Government's commitment to improving public transport in New Zealand. The change is necessary to address systemic issues in the planning procurement and provision of public transport. It's also necessary to set up the public transport system for the growth that we need to both achieve emissions reduction from the land transport system and address traffic congestion in our metros.PTOM was intended to increase commerciality of public transport services and reduce subsidies by ensuring competition for the provision of the service and has not however created a sustainable system it hasn't adequately protected working conditions nor has it provided regional councils with the necessary flexibility to tailor public transport services to the needs of their communities. Cumulatively we've seen a degradation of service reliability and we believe a better system can do better.One of the key issues with PTOM was the negative impact on the workforce. PTOM rewarded operators with low wage costs and resulted in operators struggling to recruit and retain drivers ultimately resulting in reduced service levels. Auckland bus drivers were already hundreds of drivers short in 2018—which is long before COVID to deal with one of the points raised by Simeon Brown. Operators couldn't attract and retain drivers because of poor wages and conditions. To address these chronic driver shortages this Government had to intervene. We had to fund increased wages and improved conditions over and above the contract prices that have been locked in under the PTOM model. Once wage rates were increased and we were confident the sector was committed to improving driver wages and conditions we also provided a temporary pathway to recruit migrant bus drivers. However the sector needs to be sustainable in the long term rather than the relying on ad hoc measures such as we've had to adopt to address these systemic issues. The regulation of public transport bill represents a critical step in setting the public transport sector up for long-term sustainabilities. These longer-term solutions are found in the systemic changes proposed in the bill. We've heard the argument that the objectives of the new framework can be achieved through contract variations under PTOM but rather than relying on a patchwork of measures to try to resolve systemic issues this Government's establishing a framework that drives fair and equitable treatment—the work drills through the entire system through planning procurement and the operation of services. Embedding these outcomes in legislation will help effect lasting change in the sector.I acknowledge that PTOM has played an important role in increasing the integration and coordination of public transport networks the new framework's not intended to overthrow the PTOM in its entirety. Key successful elements have been retained such as regional councils remaining responsible for planning and providing services. Efficiency and value for money remain key considerations when it comes to planning procurement and investment decisions.The Sustainable Public Transport Framework refocuses public transport planning procurement and operation to strengthen outcomes support mode shift and accessibility whilst improving environmental and health outcomes. By enabling in-house service provision and public ownership of assets public transport authorities will have greater flexibility in how they provide services. They will still be able to contract out services. Where a public transport authority chooses to contract out services ownership of strategic assets like bus depots can reduce barriers to entry in fact facilitating increased competition for contracts.By introducing new transparency requirements we increase operator accountability whether the operator is publicly or privately owned. This will also enable benchmarking of service delivery models and actually will provide information for those who think that these models should always be provided by an outside party—we'll have real information as to whether on occasions council provision is more efficient. By removing the automatic exemption for interregional services and thereby including them in the new framework we facilitate the development of more interregional services and more collaborative planning of these services between regional councils.Overall this bill will help us achieve better environmental social and economic outcomes. I note that the Supplementary Order Paper made some minor and technical changes to ensure consistency across provisions and clarify provisions to ensure they achieved the policy intent. I commend the Land Transport Management (Regulation of Public Transport) Amendment Bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.