Williamson Maurice: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Williamson Maurice: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:624;Page:19424] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) 
: 
 If ever there was a reason for the public to be very afraid it was that speech from the Greens because the member’s opening line was all about their wonderful working relationship with the Government in the field of transport. But that is where the problem lies. That is why there has been so little progress on solving transport problems. The Greens had so much control over Labour policy that we ended up with a Land Transport Management Act that it was claimed would deliver all sorts of things but it has not. No I am wrong. It has delivered some things. It has delivered major delays to major projects to the point that Transfund could not even spend its money last year—the year under review. Transfund ended up with nearly $230 million of unspent money. 
Ask any New Zealander whether he or she thinks there were a range of roading projects that were not ready to go but could have been started. The answer is they were not ready to go because the Land Transport Management Act—the greatest sop this Government has ever given to the Greens way over what it should have given—required all these projects to be reviewed. So we end up with a set of motorway arteries in Auckland. I say to members that if the arteries in their body did not join up at either end they would not be of any use to them. 
When one arrives at Mangere Airport and crosses the Mangere Bridge on State Highway 20 suddenly bang one hits Hillsborough Road. From then on it becomes a nightmare an absolute dog’s breakfast trying to navigate into the city centre. That is not true of Sydney and Melbourne. They used to have a problem as bad as ours but decided to fix their connectedness issue. Those cities rolled out massive infrastructure to the point where traffic congestion and delays are now lower than what we are experiencing in Auckland. They brought in major investment from the private sector because they recognised that the Government could not do it. 
When I first proposed private sector funding I certainly got some reaction. I have some wonderful quotes that I will be using come the election campaign. I am really going to enjoy that. I have some from the Rt Hon Helen Clark who said that allowing the private sector to build roads in this country was selling our soul; it was actually selling our roads to foreign investors. But then the Labour Government had a change of heart and when the Land Transport Management Act came along there was a part in there that would allow for private sector participation. I thought that was interesting. It was totally against Labour’s philosophy totally against its core beliefs because it thinks the private sector is evil and should not be involved. But it was interesting. So the Ministry of Transport must have had some impact on the Minister and his thinking to have achieved that legislation. The transport bill went through and in this very Chamber tonight I want members to tell me how many private sector - funded roading projects there are in New Zealand today. Mr Hide knows the answer; he just shook his head and went numb. He is right. 
Rod Donald 
: I hope none. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Mr Donald has played into my hands by saying that he hopes it is none. The Green Party is the absolutely right coalition partner for a Government that said it understood the private sector and would enter into public-private partnerships because it understood those. Yet here is Mr Donald happily saying in this Parliament that he hopes there are none. 
I ask members in this Chamber to think of any comparable jurisdiction they can name and tell me whether they have any private-sector participation in the building of roads. No I mean in the funding of roads because the Minister will get up and give some smart alec answer and say that the private sector is already involved in their building—well that is the contractors laying asphalt and tar. But there is not any private-sector funding of roads in this country. There is in New South Wales there is in Victoria and there is in Queensland. The Millau bridge in France was built in 3 years across a huge valley by the private sector—fully funded and tolled. 
How many have we here? None! How many are we likely to see with a Government that has the Greens for a coalition partner dragging it back? None! That is how many private-sector projects we will see. But in the State sector element what did we see? Did we not see Transfund knocking at the Minister’s door and saying it was sorry but it had spent all the money it had? And there are just so many projects back-logged for a couple of decades. I admit that it is a long-term backlog—I openly admit it— 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Why is that? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: No no—I admit it goes way back. If Mr Gosche wants to get smart let me tell members where the big drop occurred. Up until 1985 historically this country spent around 1.3 percent of its GDP on roading. That figure today is still the OECD average. But in 1985 and members can guess which party was in Government—