Moroney Sue: Public Transport Management Bill — First Reading 
Moroney Sue: Public Transport Management Bill — First Reading 
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SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise on this very auspicious day—the first debating day in this Chamber since the local body elections at the weekend—to debate the Public Transport Management Bill because it does have quite an impact for local authorities. It was Local Government New Zealand and the local authorities that asked for these changes to be made. They are critically aware in a way that the National Party does not seem to be of the importance of integration of the importance of having standards and of the importance of maintaining a quality sustainable public transport service. 
I do want to take a small amount of time to congratulate those who were elected to councils and to district health boards over the weekend and also to congratulate those who were unsuccessful—those people who do wish to serve their community in this way. It is not very easy for people to put themselves out there publicly to state what they believe in and how they want to represent their communities and to put all of the hard work into an election campaign. I thoroughly congratulate all of those who were involved because it does require a certain level of understanding of democracy and of the importance of representation for individuals to put themselves out there before their fellow citizens in that way. 
R Doug Woolerton 
: I put myself out there one night and got locked up. 
SUE MORONEY 
: I cannot comment on that member’s view of putting himself out there. But certainly the calibre of the people who stood at the local body elections was such that they understood the responsibility of being better able to coordinate and guarantee quality sustainable public transport. It is sad in a way that during this debate some Opposition members are exposing the fact that they do not seem to understand many of those issues. 
What does this bill do? Essentially the bill will give regional councils greater powers over non-contracted or commercial services in order to help regions to get the best value for money and achieve an integrated sustainable public transport network. When Maurice Williamson spoke he was struggling to understand the reason for this bill. He seemed to want a series of instructions about why it should be such a good idea. I would have thought that his experience during the 1990s might lead him to some conclusions about the importance of having thorough planning and of being able to take a wholly regional approach to the way one would do such things but it does not appear that Maurice Williamson has learnt any lessons from that era. The reason for this bill is that under the current legislation regional councils do have limited control over public transport services that are non-contracted and by empowering councils to impose controls over commercial services councils can ensure that commercial services meet the standards expected by their region. It is about people in the regions being able through their regional councils to have some say over the service they expect in that regard. 
The bill will also allow councils access to ongoing information about commercial services such as information about demand in particular areas in order to establish systems that are integrated and responsive to community needs. I just want to reflect on that last statement about being responsive to community needs because of course that does underpin the whole intent of the bill and I want to make sure that people who are listening to this debate understand that at its first reading. This bill is about responsiveness to community needs and that is achieved through local democratic processes. The bill will make it easier for regions to implement integrated public transport systems that do meet community needs. 
In particular I want to pick up on a couple of local issues because I know that many of the members who have spoken so far have concentrated on Auckland issues. Of course the public transport needs of the Auckland community are particularly pressing but there are issues in many other communities throughout New Zealand as well. The area that I am most familiar with is Hamilton and I do want to congratulate the Hamilton City Council and also Environment Waikato on their recent very good initiatives such as the free city shuttle bus that have made quite a difference to public transport in our city. [ 
Interruption 
] I say to David Bennett that I do use that service frequently. I am not sure whether that member has ever used it. The free city shuttle bus is a great improvement in terms of public transport in Hamilton City as is the Orbiter network. For the benefit of people who are not familiar with that part of the world I say a number of services around the outskirts of Hamilton City have now been connected up by a very good bus service named the Orbiter. That certainly has made a great difference. 
The other issue that I want to make sure people know about is the effect of this bill on people with disabilities. This bill will enable regions to better cater for those with disabilities by allowing regions to stipulate appropriate measures such as the use of super-low-floor buses. Maurice Williamson speculated earlier about a big flash bus service that he might want to operate and of course he could not answer a question about whether his flash new bus would have one of those super-low floors and would be wheelchair accessible. He could not answer that question because in his view—in his mind—the market would sort out that. Well I tell Mr Williamson that the market has not sorted that particular issue out and it will not sort it out. Currently regional councils can ensure only that those with disabilities are catered for on the contractors’ services. Operators of commercial public transport services are not required to ensure appropriate facilities are available on the services they run. So that is what happens now; that is what the market-led approach delivers to us. 
I am very proud to say that in Hamilton there is again a very exciting initiative on this very issue. Environment Waikato Hamilton City Council and Land Transport New Zealand are working together— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: How does this member know so much about Hamilton? 
SUE MORONEY 
: Oh this member does know a great deal about Hamilton because that is where I am based as Mr Williamson knows. When local people come to meet with me to talk about their needs they have been filling me in on this particular issue. The pilot project that is happening in Hamilton is looking at not just the vehicles but also the infrastructure such as the kerbing and the city council - provided services: what the bus stations look like where they are located and how people can access them. So it is a very useful pilot project and I am proud to say that it is happening in Hamilton. I thank the Disabled Persons Assembly based in Hamilton— 
David Bennett 
: So it’s a pilot project now? 
SUE MORONEY 
: I tell Mr Bennett that I thank the Disabled Persons Assembly based in Hamilton for its advocacy on this particular issue. It has made sure that those bodies have coordinated their roles in order to make a real difference on this issue. When the results of that pilot study are known I am hopeful that the learning from that study will be translated into work right throughout the country. This very bill will make that possible. 
However I do think that this debate has been rather enlightening because of course it has continued to expose and explain what went so tragically wrong in the 1990s. Although the National Party claims to have moved on this debate clearly shows that it has not. Although National is to vote in support of the first reading of this bill its members have not been able to debate this bill without making statements over and over again asking about what is wrong with just the market sorting this issue out anyway. They say the invisible hand of the market will sort out integration in public transport and will sort out making sure that people can get from A to B in an integrated way. Well we all know that that is not the case. But it seems that the National Party certainly has not moved on from the market-led ideology of the 1990s. Its members really do not understand yet that having standards—quality standards—in place is something that the New Zealand public of today demand expect and require. This type of bill will ensure that those standards will be in place.