Sharples Pita: Public Transport Management Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sharples Pita: Public Transport Management Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 02 September 2008. Volume:649;Page:18248. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tena tatou. The Maori Party comes to this bill fuelled by our commitment towards developing options to support cheap free regular reliable and frequent public transport. We are acutely aware that the transport sector is responsible for 45 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions. Our capacity to achieve an integrated safe responsive and sustainable public transport system is thus motivated by our commitment towards the impacts of peak oil alongside our responsibility to prepare for climate change.  
We are interested in any strategies to achieve vehicle fuel efficiency and reduce vehicle emissions and public transport services are certainly a central part of that plan. As the Auckland Regional Transport Authority advised us a good public transport system is one of the many tools to support sustainability and climate change initiatives. But our focus is also as always on he tangata he tangata he tangata. What will be the contribution that this legislation makes towards improving the quality of life for our people? It is more than simply adding a band-aid to the perpetual problem of the urgent need to develop a high-quality public transport system for Auckland.  
This House has long been aware that public transport in Auckland is inadequate. There is too much duplication between bus and train services and almost no coordination between services. Constituents in my Tamaki-makau-rau offices are routinely describing public transport in our region as slow infrequent unreliable and expensive. Worst of all people who happen to live in the outlying suburbs of Auckland Takanini Massey Clendon and Ranui are often the least well provided for yet it is these same communities where the people who need quality affordable public transport are more likely to live.  
This Public Transport Management Bill is therefore desperately needed not so much because of the general lack of satisfaction with our transport options but more because of the need to have the infrastructure in place to ensure there is public transport available for those who need it most. One of the most interesting amendments added by the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee was the importance of regional councils considering the needs of people who can be considered transport-disadvantaged and consulting groups that represent them. In the submissions received on the bill we heard a range of variations on a theme about what transport-disadvantaged could mean.  
Age Concern drawing on the World Health Organization report  
Global Age-friendly Cities 
 emphasises that accessible and affordable public transport is a key factor influencing active ageing describing it as a lifeline from social isolation for those without access to cars. CCS Disability Action and the Human Rights Commission describe the provision of an accessible public transport system as pivotal to enabling disabled people to participate and live full and enriched lives. They drew attention to the issues associated with social isolation and exclusion when people are unable to move freely about their communities and are trapped within their own homes.  
The National Council of Women told the committee that there is a lack of public transport in rural towns and in regions. In fact as a consequence of the submission a new definition of “transport disadvantaged” was established to refer to those living rurally. The council also argued that city services need to provide better for shift workers and those wanting more flexibility in peak time. The proposed definition of “transport disadvantaged” as put forward by the select committee chose to focus on people being at least able to get to basic community activities and services such as work education health care welfare and food shops rather than refer to specific interest groups or populations. That is a very useful addition to the bill and we welcome the intent of the legislation in clarifying and extending the functions and powers of regional councils to regulate public transport services provided in their regions.  
The bill will enable regional councils to plan for the public transport services they wish to have in their region and all of that is very positive especially in the case of Auckland. But we in the Maori Party wonder whether this bill goes far enough. The undeniable fact is that world oil production is peaking now. There is an increasing rate of demand for oil but also an increasing rate of scarcity. For every new barrel of oil discovered five or six barrels are being used. We inevitably find ourselves in a position in which we have become almost totally oil-dependent for transport. So it is essential that we apply our most creative thinking to considering long-term feasible public transport options. We may need to electrify more transport to prioritise urban design around walking and biking rather than create more traffic jams or exacerbate the suburban trap.  
It may well be time to turn to the ingenious humans who have for some time been leading the world in providing public transport on a reduced energy diet. Cuba now moves masses of people across Havana during rush hour by a complex mass-transit system that requires little additional funds or fuel. Virtually every vehicle in existence is called on for an elaborate system of ride-sharing in which commuters ride in handmade wheelbarrows and on buses animal-powered vehicles bicycles and motorised two-passenger rickshaws. Imagine that here in Wellington. Ministers could travel to work in pairs in a rickshaw and Associate Ministers could be issued with a wheelbarrow each. Imagine the savings that would be achieved.  
One of the most innovative Havana inventions is the camel—not the spitting humpback version but a large mule semi-trailer pulled by a truck that holds up to 300 vehicles. It may not sound like a going concern for Remuera or Kohimarama but the point is that a massive attitudinal change has taken place that we could all learn something from. In Cuba it is nothing for Government officials to pull over and fill up their Government vehicles with people needing a ride. A donkey cart with a taxi licence nailed to a frame will be travelling in Cuban streets while a common truck has been converted to public transport by welding a set of steps on the back for riders to jump on and off with ease. Dover could ride on that. The Maori Party is keen to investigate all options all strategies to consider additional public transport options. 
Mark Blumsky 
: Wheelbarrows. 
Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: Wheelbarrows yes. We believe that we need to make a long-term investment in improved public transport systems to achieve less oil dependency less smog lower petrol bills and significantly reduced emissions.  
There is however one last thing I would like to raise about this bill—that is our greatly weakened consultation processes. The select committee has recommended that the consultation provisions of this bill should be amended by deleting the requirement to consult the public and Maori. The rationale given was that such consultation was too onerous yet on the other hand it was content to extend the requirement to consult commercial operators and to add in a two-phase consultation approach. That new approach consults operators and councils as a first step then the wider public under local government processes.  
We in the Maori Party believe that the effect of this new two-phase approach actually narrows the scope the weight of public voice and significantly the views of whanau hapu and iwi. To this end we will be submitting a Supplementary Order Paper at the Committee stage to ensure that these limitations are adequately addressed. There ends my wheelbarrow!