Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): Tēnā koe. Members of the National Party seem to have a very short memory. There has been a huge crisis in transport regulation which this bill along with companion bills the Land Transport (Rail) Legislation Bill and the Land Transport (NZTA) Legislation Amendment Bill is going to sort out. We had thousands of vehicles which had to be recalled because their warrants of fitness were issued by organisations that weren't up to scratch and those warrants of fitness were virtually meaningless. We had the late William Bell who died because he was killed in a vehicle which had been certified by an inspecting organisation where the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) had significant concerns about that but failed to take action on.There was a major review of the NZTA which concluded that there were significant issues because of the NZTA's lack of a strong regulatory role and the lack of a single regulatory voice in the agency. And if I could just read from the regulatory impact statement that review—which Martin Jenkins conducted and I quote—concluded that since the NZTA's establishment significant deficiencies in its regulatory capability have developed over time resulting in regulatory failure. The absence of a single and clear point of accountability for regulatory decision-making in the NZTA (contrary to many other regulatory agencies) and lack of established principles of good governance have been significant contributors to the regulatory failure." That is what we inherited from the last National Government. This bill is part of the fix to that because this Government wants to ensure that people are safe on our roads. That means ensuring that those organisations providing warrants of fitness do so properly. It means ensuring that the police and others have the powers to detain vehicles after crashes to ensure that the causes of those crashes are properly identified and this bill provides a power there.National with its "regulatory bonfire" its approach to laissez-faire government does not hold the safety of the citizens of New Zealand as the highest priority—this Government does. That is what is informing the whole response to COVID-19 and that is what is also at the heart of this bill as part of two other measures to actually improve the regulatory system in transport. So the Green Party supports the bill because it is providing those changes that are much needed and the National Party by always wanting to undercut regulation fails to recognise that the Government has a major responsibility for safety. The provisions to increase the number of members on the board are to ensure that there is proper oversight of the NZTA. It is a big organisation; it has got potentially conflicting roles with investment and infrastructure provision and also being a regulator. We are fixing the regulatory system; that is a priority in the same way that this Government is focusing on investing in road safety—those changes that will ensure that human error doesn't lead to crashes. That's because we're concerned about the safety of New Zealanders and this bill fixes the problems that we inherited from the last Government. Kia ora."