Brown Peter: Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Brown Peter: Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:642;Page:12531] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Well that was actually a very interesting contribution by the member who has just resumed his seat David Bennett. It would have been better perhaps if he had got many of his facts straight. Let us address one—the minimum wage. I could not understand why he brought that issue up. 
The minimum wage kicks in at 16—not at 15 but at 16 which is the school leaving age. So bringing the driver’s-licence age up to 16 makes it all compatible. The other impression I got from the member is that he left school at 15—an early age—and that he drove himself around town. I do not doubt that he drove himself around town but I have my doubts that he left school at 15; I think he was at school in a tertiary education organisation for quite some time. 
He gave another fact that I have to take issue with. Certainly in my area I see more and more kids children youngsters cycling to school. There may be older children who drive themselves to school and there may be younger children who are driven to school by their parents but more and more youngsters certainly in the area I live in get on their bikes and cycle to school. That I understand is the reason why Tauranga and other places are constructing all of these cycleways. We are producing cycleways everywhere because more and more people are getting on bikes. 
Katrina Shanks 
: Not in Wellington. 
PETER BROWN 
: Not where? 
Katrina Shanks 
: Not in Wellington. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Yeah it’s kind of hilly. 
PETER BROWN 
: Well that might be the reason for that. 
New Zealand First will support this bill’s referral to a select committee but that is not to say that we will support it as a party after that. Some of my colleagues have some concerns about raising the age but we have all agreed to support the bill’s referral to a select committee. One must remember that this bill will go to a select committee because the Hon Peter Dunne sought leave to bring it to the House to test whether the House thought such a bill was worthwhile. That went through very quietly and very quickly at a time when I think most members of the House were present. 
There was no doubt that Parliament wanted this bill to be considered. One might ask why. Well the simple reason is that the public want to raise the driving age—they want to raise the age when youngsters can get behind the wheel of a car and drive it. I personally am totally in favour of that. I would not let my own children anywhere near a car before they were 16. If I had had my way at that time I would have raised the age to 17. Peer pressure being what it is I won out for a year but after that I encouraged them to drive at 16. 
The Hon Maurice Williamson raised a few interesting points. I can recall back to 1998 and the Land Transport Bill which made reference to raising the driving age from 15 to 16. New Zealand First at one time—and we had just arrived on the scene in any meaningful way at that time—wanted to increase the age to 17. But when we were in coalition with the National Party we were persuaded to drop the age to 16. Sometime later out of the blue further pressure was exercised on us by our coalition partner to retain the age at 15 principally because of the rural concerns. 
Had National and New Zealand First stuck together and seen that legislation through—the numbers were there to push it through the House and to raise the driving age in 1998—one has to ask whether a few more people would be alive today. My own view is that we should tack this to the school leaving age. We have had the abysmal record read out to the House by the Hon Peter Dunne a few moments ago and for that reason alone we must take this issue very very seriously. I welcome this bill going to a select committee because I know the public want to have a strong say on it. New Zealand First has been informally canvassing our members and without a shadow of a doubt they want to increase the driver’s-licence age. Many of them want to increase it to 17. 
Sandra Goudie 
: How many? 
PETER BROWN 
: Quite a few—a significant percentage. Of the few hundred we have met with informally quite a significant percentage want to raise it. I could not tell the member how many want the age to be 17 or 16 but we asked them pretty genuinely and there was a clear-cut response from New Zealand First members—they want to raise the driving age. There are some who do not and who probably think along the lines of David Bennett. But on the sample we tested I would say that by an overwhelming majority most New Zealand First members want to increase the driving age at least to 16 and as I said many want it increased to 17. 
I listened to the Hon Harry Duynhoven and I did get the impression that he wants to use this bill to improve or to address driver’s-licence problems per se. That is what it sounded like to me but I think that is coming in the next bill is it not? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Yes. 
PETER BROWN 
: This bill will stick to raising the age and extending the length of the learner licensing period from 6 months to 12 months. But the bill that will follow—when; early next year?— 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Hopefully soon. 
PETER BROWN 
: —hopefully soon—will address driver’s-licence issues per se in some detail. 
I think we have to remember that driving on our roads should be a privilege not a right. I do not think anybody has the right to demand that he or she can get in a car on a motorbike or even on a bicycle and demand the right to drive or cycle on our roads. People should meet a certain standard—certainly in respect of driving a car a motorbike or a motorised vehicle—and they should have to apply themselves diligently and follow the rules. 
On the weekend that the Hon Peter Dunne referred to when three youngsters were killed a youngster killed a civic leader Graham Condon. He was killed by a 15-year-old driver. I obviously have a lot of sympathy for Graham Condon’s family and for the parents of the young girl. She will suffer from that for the rest of her life. But had the driving age been 16 one has to assume that she would not have been in the car and that Graham Condon would still be alive. 
These youngsters are killing not only themselves but other people. The statistics are awful absolutely awful. No other country as we have heard has the driver’s-licence age at 15. I cannot think of one. I know that in Britain it is 17 and the Hon Peter Dunne told the House a little while ago that it is to go up to 18. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: The House of Commons committee recommends it go to 18. 
PETER BROWN 
: Mr Dunne is just saying that the House of Commons committee recommends that age go up to 18. 
So we are not alone in addressing this problem and as David Bennett said I hope we can address it positively. But first and foremost we have to listen to the public. It is not a decision that we make. We have to go with the public. What the public wants must be the priority. I for one welcome this bill going to the select committee. I am on the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and I welcome listening to the public and hearing their ideas on what should happen. But I know we will hear a lot of sad stories and it is an issue that we must take very very seriously.