Fenton Darien: Infrastructure Bill — In Committee 
Fenton Darien: Infrastructure Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12497] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 I add my “welcome back” to Tau Henare. It is really good that he is back in the Chamber. We did not miss him a lot but it is kind of nice that he is here. I have to say to my whanaunga that I was very very disappointed. I saw his note on Facebook about the 90-day probationary period bill and being congratulated by—what is his name? From the Hospitality Association— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Bruce Robertson. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Bruce Robertson was saying congratulations to Tau and good on him. I put a little note on saying that I hoped to see him at the protest on Sunday but I did not see him there; he was probably inside. This is the union organiser of the 1980s the worst union organiser that we had ever known in the whole of the country. I am being generous here tonight but I am genuine when I say that I am pleased to see Tau Henare back. 
The Transport and Industrial Relations Committee dealt with this bill. I am not going to praise the chair; he has had enough of that—look at him! The select committee that considered this bill took it seriously. I thought that the great speech from the Hon Tau Henare about the infrastructure future of our country was very interesting but it was also timely given the considerations and things that are happening right now. 
I want to take us back to reality about what this bill does. The bill has been around for a long time and it has been languishing. It went to the select committee in July or August 2009 and we heard from a whole range of people. This bill sets up a code. It does not build a road or a railway; it does not build anything. It does not do anything. It sets up a code. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Unclogs the arteries. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: No it does not unclog the arteries. Well it unclogs the arteries of the Utilities Advisory Group. This poor group set itself up years and years ago under Labour. It has been working away on a code and hoping that the National-led Government would do something about putting it in place. It must be absolutely fed up with waiting. I congratulate the group on being so patient. Let us not get carried away about what this bill actually does. I am sure as we go on we will talk about many of the other things. I am really looking forward to talking in the Committee stage about many of our utilities. Going back to the Utilities Advisory Group may I say that it is just well it did not have a 90-day trial period because it would have been fired some time ago. 
I go back to the bill. Labour began the work on this bill. In 2006 we agreed on some policy objectives to reduce the costs and inefficiencies arising from the current statutory framework including avoidable damage to roads and utility networks delays and disputes and inconsistencies between statutes and poor coordination. The work was done under Labour. This bill came together under Labour under the wonderful Ministers we had in the previous Government. I regret as indeed my colleagues do that it has taken us so long to get to a point where we are not actually unclogging the arteries but perhaps releasing the potential of the Utilities Advisory Group which under this legislation has the right to set up a code that the Minister can approve or disapprove. It is a voluntary code. They will then work together on it and hopefully we will see some change. 
Yes let us unclog the arteries by all means. Let us talk about what Labour did to unclog the arteries during its 9 years in Government. I am looking forward to talking about that as well. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: 9 glorious years. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Labour had 9 glorious years in Government. I regret the fact that this has taken so long for this Government having been through so many periods of urgency. We have seen the wonderful National Party conference that was held over the weekend. There were the wonderful announcements of a step change. The step change? Where is that? It is the stepladder— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: The plank. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: It is the plank; that is what it is. It is stepping off the plank into the sea. No one knows what the step change means except that they see it as taking away workers’ rights and taking away their wages.