10. Question No. 10—TransportHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Associate Minister of TransportQuestion No. 10—Transport10. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Associate Minister of Transport: Does she stand by all of the Government's statements and actions in relation to road safety?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Associate Minister of Transport): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Yes. In particular I stand by this Government's decision to make road safety a priority for transport investment. This Government does not believe that 380 people dying on our roads each year and many thousands being seriously injured is acceptable. That's why we have taken the action of investing $4.3 billion in safety improvements nationwide over the next three years; that's why we announced $1.5 billion for targeted safety upgrades including on over 800 kilometres of our highest-risk State highways; and it's why we're investing an additional $5.3 billion in roading improvements and boosting funding for much-needed maintenance on our rural and local roads.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Regarding her statement The NZTA will also speed up the time it takes to deliver safety projects by fast-tracking the approval process for standard proven safety improvements." is she confident the improvements will be practical and welcomed by the public?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Yes absolutely. We heard last year from local authorities and road controlling authorities around the country how important road safety was to their communities and how there were difficulties with getting approval for funding for low-cost and well-proven road safety improvements. I think part of the problem that was occurring was that they had to go through a very onerous business case sometimes for projects that were worth well under a million dollars and the business case process ended up costing more than the actual improvement itself. So I stand by the actions already taken by the New Zealand Transport Agency to work with local road controlling authorities to ensure that they're able to make the improvements that their communities are asking for. Rt Hon Winston Peters: On the question of road safety and road improvements what did she make of the television presentation where a member of Parliament was criticising the Provincial Growth Fund improvement of roads on the Kaipara Harbour from a tar-sealed road in Remuera—namely Mr Goldsmith?SPEAKER: I think that's too much of a stretch.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does she share Associate Minister of Transport Shane Jones' concern mentioned in the Ashburton Guardian that the plan to install barriers down the middle of State Highway 1 between the Selwyn River and Ashburton "will cause more grief if other roading improvements are not put in place beforehand"?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: What I can say is that the Government is going to take an evidence-based approach to road safety improvements and it's entirely true that there are a number of engineering improvements that can be made to stop deaths and serious injuries—Hon Simon Bridges: So she disagrees with Shane?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Minister Jones and I see eye to eye on many things and I'm sure there are many areas where we don't see eye to eye but I always welcome constructive engagement with him and we're working well. But ultimately these road safety improvements are driven by the community who want to stop seeing people needlessly die or be seriously injured on our roads. I have to say it's shameful in the last five years of that National Government how much the number of people dying and being seriously injured increased. Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does she share Shane Jones' attitude which he described as "I'm all about safety but I'm about common sense too"?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I very much agree with Minister Jones on that and we're absolutely working together to ensure that we're delivering the road safety improvements that the country needs.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does she think someone stuck behind a tractor on State Highway 1 for many kilometres unable to pass because they're in a single lane with a wire median barrier alongside it would regard the situation as common sense?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I think that the people who are not going to lose a loved one due to an avoidable road crash will appreciate steps being taken to stop those road crashes from happening. I'm sure no one in New Zealand wants to have a call from the police finding out that their son or daughter or partner was killed in a head-on collision that could have been prevented by appropriate road engineering. Hon James Shaw: Does the Minister think that public acceptance of evidence-based and cost-effective measures for road safety is being improved by the National Party's constant campaign that four-lane highways are the only way to improve road safety?SPEAKER: I'm not going to allow that question because it's not a matter of this Minister's responsibility. I will say to that Minister as I said to the Deputy Prime Minister earlier that I think people should be taking a little bit of extra care to make sure that their questions are in order."