Fenton Darien: Climate Change (Transport Funding) Bill — First Reading 
Fenton Darien: Climate Change (Transport Funding) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:655;Page:4843] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 I appreciate the chance to take a call on the Climate Change (Transport Funding) Bill and I am pleased that Labour is supporting the bill going to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. I congratulate Jeanette Fitzsimons on her bill and I acknowledge how frustrating it must have been to have the bill stuck on the Order Paper since November 2007. I sympathise with that position somewhat. I went through a similarly lengthy process with my own bill only to have it fall at the third hurdle when National failed to give political support in the Committee stage to a $15 an hour minimum wage. 
Labour supports this bill because we are seriously concerned about the Government’s funding direction away from an integrated multimodal approach that includes a significant role for public transport. The risk that that direction poses to important projects and priorities such as the electrification of Auckland rail integrated ticketing and walking and cycling facilities is very worrying—particularly for Auckland. I believe that National has set public transport back but not only in Auckland. We want to ensure that by supporting the bill the debate is kept alive. We know that people support public transport because it is transport that backs people rather than penalises them. As an Aucklander I know that billions of dollars more spent on roading as proposed by National will not solve the problem. We cannot keep on building more and more roads and motorways and filling them up. There is a better plan: investing in public transport. 
We had the ludicrous situation recently whereby cyclists and walkers spent endless efforts to get agreement from the Government to walk across Auckland Harbour Bridge in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the bridge. It is our bridge. One would think that people would be able to walk and cycle across it just once. They could not get the Government to agree to that and inevitably the people who gathered to politely ask whether they could walk or cycle across the bridge on that special day lost patience and simply did it. The only action we saw from the New Zealand Transport Agency and the Government on the 50th anniversary of the Auckland Harbour Bridge was a conference. They hosted a conference with the theme “Bridges Linking Communities” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bridge. I am certain very important things were talked about there but the most important question was left unanswered: how will the lack of investment in public transport cycleways and walkways help link communities? It was left to Labour to organise the only other public event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Harbour Bridge. It was left to Labour to hold a tribute for the three workers who died building the bridge and for the thousands of workers who have worked on the bridge to maintain it and paint it ever since. 
Why does the National Government believe that the only good transport spending is money spent on roads? Why is it so hard for the Minister of Transport to get his head around 21st century thinking? John Key thinks cycling is good but only as long as it is on his national cycleway. John Key thinks party central for the Rugby World Cup in Auckland in 2011 is good as long as no one expects integrated ticketing to get around Auckland. When it comes to cycling walking and public transport we are now in no man’s territory. This Government thinks roads are the only way to solve transport congestion in the future. We are going backwards yet Auckland public transport patronage has never been higher. The Northern Busway has been a runaway success. 
I am interested to hear whether the member for Auckland Central Nikki Kaye makes a comment. I would like to know what she has done since the election about integrated ticketing. She might be able to tell us. She promised to untangle what she then called the alphabet soup of transport funding. Nikki Kaye told the electorate of Auckland Central before the last election that a transport smart card would be a high priority for her as an MP for Auckland. She said she would be knocking on doors to hurry things up. Well did she knock on the door of Minister Steven Joyce? I suspect that if she had there was no answer he was not listening and no one was home when she called. I feel some sympathy for that member like Melissa Lee because when it comes to National members listening to their backbench MPs there is silence. It is a very difficult lesson for those MPs. 
The bill is important to keep debate alive and to keep hope alive for the sensible people of New Zealand and particularly those in Auckland who know that a viable well-supported and funded public transport system is an important part of our transport network. They know it is an important part of future productivity and they know that in this era we need to seek new solutions not the old National remedies of the past. Thank you.