Williamson Maurice: Budget Debate 
Williamson Maurice: Budget Debate 
[Volume:639;Page:9536] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) 
: 
 First I apologise to commercial radio in Auckland for again taking away its drive time audience because my adoring drive time audience wait with bated breath for me to speak around this time at night. Those Pakuranga residents who want to be home to watch  
Coronation Street 
 at 7.30 p.m. will have already begun their trip leaving the central city about half an hour ago in order to make it back to Pakuranga by 7.30 p.m. The good news about giving a drive time speech in this House is that one can start any time from about 4.30 p.m. through until 8.30 p.m. or 9 p.m. and one will still pick up the drive time audience. 
Because it is the one thing Labour members never address when they say: “We’ve done this and we’ve done that and when National was in power they did not do that.” One simple question they could answer is: has congestion got better or worse in Auckland since Labour has been in power? I know the answer because I have seen some quite good public polling but I would like to hear a Labour member answer it. Here is the question again—I will take it slowly and use big letters so that Labour members can understand it: has congestion got better or worse since Labour came to power? Let me tell them—and this will not be a surprise to my drive time audience stuck out there—it has got way worse. 
Labour members can use all the weasel words in the world about what they have done and what they have achieved while the one measure that the ordinary motorist will use—it is the only measure that motorists will use—is whether congestion has got better or worse. Let us take the road up the Kapiti coast and ask Nathan Guy the next member for Otaki. Actually he is the member for Otaki in waiting because he is already that now. We can ask him to ask his constituents whether traffic has got better or worse up the coast road. 
Nathan Guy 
: Worse. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Exactly. I am happy to bet my salary against Harry Duynhoven right now that we will commission an independent survey group to survey 1000 people in Auckland asking that question. I win if those people say it has got worse and Harry gets our total annual salary pot if that independent survey company says that the Aucklanders say that it has got better. Every one of those people who are locked blocked and stopped in their cars right now knows that congestion has got worse. 
It is no wonder that things have got worse. What we have today and I referred to it at question time is a ministerial advisory group report. Members should read it. When I say my “gast” was completely “flabbered” I really mean it. Here is some of the stuff in the report. This is the report of the Minister’s own officials. It is not a case of the Tories having a slap at the Minister. It is not a case of the National Party trying to score some ground. Here is what the Minister’s own people said about how roading is handled. Members should listen to this—it is beautiful: “Under pressure to deliver it seems that decision making in relation to scope and project definition has not always had the robust scrutiny that might have been expected.” 
There is Another statement: “Value for money was not identified as a key objective in the SOIs for the Ministry of Transport Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ …” and so on. So value for money was not taken into account. The report goes on to state—it is just incredible—“the change in project evaluation criteria away from solely using BCR means that Transit NZ has less incentive to contain project costs.” And it does not. 
The Ministerial Advisory Group on Roading Costs report is a 51-page report. It is damning about the wastage the scope-creep and the project cost overruns and there is a graph showing what has happened to projects going through the ceiling. So it is just not good enough for this Government to come in here and say that it is all OK and under control. 
The next question which the National Party has raised with several Ministers of Transport and Ministers for the Environment along the way is why this Government will not make some modest changes to the Resource Management Act—just some modest changes—to stop some of the appalling cost impost that has been put on building roads. Every one of the transport and environment Ministers has said there is nothing wrong with the Resource Management Act it is fine they will not change it and the National Party is deluded. That is what they said: the National Party is completely deluded there is nothing wrong with the Resource Management Act and it does not need to be changed. Well here are some quotes. If these quotes were from the Tories or the National Party Opposition then one could say they were just trying to score some points. These quotes from the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee hearing of the financial review of Transit come from the chairman and the chief executive of Transit. 
They are lovely—members will like them. “One of the difficulties is that we’re finding we’re having to do a lot of things to gain consent under the RMA and under the Environment Court jurisdiction that is adding a lot of cost to each project.” 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: You’ve driven those drivers to sleep Maurice you’re so boring. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Well I am actually happy to read it a second time because Mr Gosche is enjoying this so much. “One of the difficulties is that we’re finding we’re having to do a lot of things to gain consent under the RMA and under the Environment Court jurisdiction that is adding a lot of cost to each project.” The next quote is even better: “Getting consents is now costing Transit a lot more than could be expected.” So here we go here is the question again—we will ask a second question in our survey about this. Do Government members agree with this man? The Ministerial Advisory Group on Roading Costs is obviously wrong and the public is wrong when they think congestion has got worse not better! But let us get down to this question: is the Chairman of Transit Mr Bryan Jackson wrong when he says that the Resource Management Act is the problem and that it is adding huge cost to each project? 
I love the following quote; it is a little specific example: “Take the Victoria tunnel. Some of the conditions that have been applied in the first round are extremely onerous. For example moving an historic building to make way for the port of the tunnel is going to cost Transit an extra $6½ million.” Just one element of the Resource Management Act that is blocking the development of a tunnel is that a historic building has to be moved for $6.5 million. That is clear. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: So what would you do? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: The member really fell into that trap. We have said what we would do all along including at the last election. On the National Party’s website at www.national.org.nz there is a list of 12 specific changes that if made to the Resource Management Act would still give people a say would still provide a proper consenting process but would take away the frivolous the vexatious the time delay and the extra cost that—and it is not me saying this—the Government’s own chairman of Transit says is the major problem. He will probably be gone as of tomorrow—he will probably be sacked because he spoke out like he did. 
At that same committee the chief executive Rick van Barneveld said: “Some of the conditions sought in particular by the ARC are onerous and unreasonable in their cost in our view.” So that is what they are saying. So yes we would significantly amend the Resource Management Act to streamline the consent process to actually see some roads get built. 
But now we come to the doozy of them all in the Budget. In the Budget we see a Government that is really keen on increasing taxes. That is what we see—a Government that announces a $1.7 billion surplus in cash— 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Who’s voting against the tax cuts? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: I say to Mr Gosche that that is after the corporate tax cuts so he should get his numbers right. There is a $6.3 billion operating surplus but then the Government says it will put on a new tax of 10c a litre—an extra tax. Here is what people will love. This is why my drive time audience has been waiting for me to reach a peak to get to this crescendo and to lay it on them. Here is the news for those motorists on the motorway trying to work their way out to Pakuranga so they can be there in time for  
Coronation Street 
 at 7.30: they will pay 10c a litre extra for an upgrade of the rail network. I can hear them already shouting with their cars coming to a grinding halt on the motorway: “What rail network? There is no rail network in our part of Auckland so if a rail network were upgraded how would that affect us?”. We hear the Minister saying today that what would really help is that if we upgraded the network we would get people on to trains and it would free up the roads. There is no rail network in the eastern suburbs where I live. There is no rail network on the North Shore and this Budget is a complete hoax for every motorist out there.