Flavell Te Ururoa: Public Transport Management Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Public Transport Management Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:642;Page:12377] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tatou. The Public Transport Management Bill could not have come at a more opportune time for the new Mayor of Auckland. Six years ago in 2001 “Banksie” faced the people and said he would solve the city’s biggest problem—transport—with one thing: roads roads roads. But apparently in true “Banksie” bluster he has now admitted that he has had a transmogrification. If members have any doubt as to what transmogrification means I will tell them that it means to change form in a grotesque or bizarre way. The transmogrification of the Ferrari-driving mayor is that he has gone from conspiring to build bigger and better roads to declaring a commitment to create a world-class public transport system. He campaigned on a platform of integrated ticketing across the ferries trains and buses and on a package that he calls an excellent marriage between the train and the car: park-and-ride. Whether Auckland City will reap the benefits of this “Banksie” transmogrification will be a matter for the punters in Auckland to consider. But I am sure Mr Banks appreciates the efforts that the Hon Annette King has made to advance the issue of public transport on to the national agenda so quickly. 
Our country’s newly elected mayors and councils are essential to the aims of this bill which are to achieve an integrated safe responsive and sustainable land transport system. My reading of things is that the bill responds to the two competing priorities of the regional infrastructure: to help regions obtain the best value for money in public transport while also enabling fair competition for commercial operators by means of a competitive and an efficient market for public transport services. That tension between best value and the competitive market has been a longstanding issue for local government. Regions want to have the flexibility and commercial edge to host innovative public transport services that would otherwise not be provided. In my own region we have the BayBus Twin City Express and Kati Coach according to some. Call a Bus can take people direct from Tauranga to Auckland airport. There is also the Bay Hopper and Super Travel Express—to name just a few services. 
However up until this bill councils have been limited in their ability to regulate commercial services and as a consequence their capacity to plan and develop the necessary integrated safe responsive and sustainable regional public transport systems across the region has been constrained. This bill is about investing in sustainability while also providing opportunity for significant economic and mobility benefits to be generated. 
But there is one particular benefit that is driving—I ask the House to excuse the pun—our decision in the Maori Party to support this bill at its first reading: the benefit of foresight in planning for the future in a low energy - sustainable world. From the Maori Party’s early days since its establishment we have been talking about the urgent need to reduce Government personal and business dependency on oil. In 2005 we called for a cross-party parliamentary commission to look sensibly and collaboratively at addressing the challenge of peak oil. We have talked about the need to become energy literate and to properly evaluate energy options. If we are faced with a menu of renewable sources such as wind farm generation solar power or wave energy how might we best determine whether it will actually be energy efficient to invest in new infrastructure or to stay with the status quo? We know in New Zealand that our use of our own renewable sources has been declining—mainly as a result of the decline of the Maui field—so there has been a return by the Government to using coal despite its known disastrous environmental and human health effects. 
Rather than looking at non-renewable sources to maintain our current unsustainable modern society we need urgently to consider renewable energy production and significantly altering the way that we consume. Unfortunately not one of the political parties in this Parliament was prepared to work with us on the proposal we first put out in 2005. The invitation to work collaboratively was obviously a little too challenging at that time. 
But the issue is as the US peak oil expert Richard Heinberg told us last week that the challenge of peak oil is very definitely upon us now. When the peaking of oil production happens a decline in availability and supply follows. The discovery of new fields and new extraction technology is not offsetting declines because the global demand for oil continues to increase. In fact for every new barrel of oil that is discovered five or six barrels are being used. It is too late for quibbling over whether the peak was in 2005 or 2006 or is in 2010; the undeniable fact is that the world’s oil production is peaking now. Thirty-eight of the 48 largest oil-producing countries have declining oil production yet demand is steadily rising. 
 The Maori Party supports the further development of public transport systems to reduce road traffic as a key means to lessen the nation’s dependency on oil. We support those initiatives to lessen carbon emissions as an important component of acting to address the global warming crisis. And in the process we also say we should look to Maori operators for ideas about how to achieve an integrated and a safe responsive and sustainable land transport system. Maori have always been key players in the public transport system of our nation. The special relationship between tangata whenua and our ancestral lands and resources must take into account the Crown’s obligations as a partner to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. As such the governance management and administration of transport decision-making must involve Maori at all stages. 
Maori have provided and will continue to provide options as individual operators of public transport systems. Again in my electorate of Waiariki I think about the precedent established by the legendary Sam Emery. Sam was born at Kakepuku near Te Awamutu in 1885. His is one of those amazing self-made success stories that we love in Aotearoa. Without a single day of schooling and despite being unable to read or write—not even a line—he went on to pioneer motor transport becoming a transport operator and a launch owner. He eventually served on the Rotorua County Council for 18 years. He never forgot his people. He played a key role in the financing and construction of five meeting houses including one in his birthplace for Ngati Kahu. 
Our more recent history as tangata whenua has seen Maori involvement in the transport sector increase as a result of the collective aspirations of and projects initiated by whanau hapu and iwi. In the decade 1991-2001 Maori participation rates in tourism increased by 72 percent. We believe that our Maori operators give us good reason for optimism in responding to the twin challenge of peak oil and climate change. Again in the fine electorate of Waiariki Tauranga Moana Maori Tourism Inc. advances cultural tourism that is environmentally responsible and economically sustainable. Its initiatives are not only about supporting Maori tourism but also about recognising and protecting the spiritual physical and cultural values of the people of the region. Indeed it is the ultimate expression of tangata whenuatanga by Maori—te kakano i ruia mai i Rangiatea—that we do all we can to protect restore and enhance mauri within the natural environment. 
Our aspiration to create a clean safe and healthy environment is tied up with the development of cheap free regular reliable and frequent public transport. Our party supports any policy initiatives for the rail infrastructure to deliver a better service and reduce the number of cars on the road. And of course there are many many other ways of reducing road traffic. In Rotorua the number of people who cycle to work has been declining and in that context Bike Rotorua aims to get more people cycling more often. The project recommends amongst other things a cycleway network. So I tell members to watch this space—Rotorua will be leading the way once again. In terms of leading the way we are interested in the debate around the electrification of public transport including electric car technology. We believe that reducing our dependence on oil makes both good economic sense and environmental sense. 
Finally I am reminded of the whakatauaki “Ruia taitea kia tu ko taikaka anake. Cast off the sap and leave only the heart.” That is a reminder to us to clear away the irrelevant stuff and concentrate on the essential components. The essential component in this bill for the Maori Party is to support initiatives to improve our public transport systems in ways that serve both to lessen the nation’s dependency on oil in the face of the peak oil crisis and to lessen carbon emissions in the face of the global warming crisis. This bill is a positive step in that direction and the Maori Party will support it.