Bennett David: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 30 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12059. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (Chairperson of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee):Thank you Julie Anne Genter. That was just another Green member’s speech around transport options which we expected. The Green Party has got a problem with roads of national significance. If anyone was listening to that and did not understand what was actually being said the Green Party does not want to see New Zealand build motorways. It can say that 60 years of research tells you that if you build a motorway then there is going to be more congestion. Perhaps it should look at the population of New Zealand over those 60 years and look at car ownership over those 60 years. We cannot go back to a situation of having a one-lane highway from Auckland to Hamilton and think that is going to be fine that it is going to be OK for New Zealand and that because of some spirited economic analysis done by some Green Party member investing in roads does not need to happen.Let us get in the real world. People drive in cars. Our cities are connected by roads. Our people want to move between our cities. It is the most cost-effective form of transport that you have it is the most available form of transport that you have and it is the mechanism by which we get from A to B in our livelihoods. The day that we do not invest in roads is the day that Green Party members may be able to sleep at night but it is the day that the New Zealand public will not be able to live the way that they expect or want. The National Government is delivering the roads of national significance. I have yet to see one member of the Labour Party or the Green Party—who are so strident in their views around the roads of national significance that they decry those roads day after day in this Chamber—who will come to Hamilton and say that publicly. Come to Hamilton and say publicly that you do not want the roads of national significance. When will the Labour Party and the Green Party actually say what they say in this Chamber to the public of New Zealand in their homes? They will not say it.Darien Fenton: When will this member start talking—DAVID BENNETT: Darien Fenton will not come to Hamilton and say that.Andrew Little: We say it in Taranaki all the time.DAVID BENNETT: Mr Little is now yelling out. He is the man who got up and made a speech the last time we talked about roading. What was his speech about? He wanted a road to New Plymouth did he not? That was his whole speech. It is good enough to have a road to your place but not for anybody else is it not Andrew Little? Yes tell us about that one.The National Government is delivering the roads of national significance. The Waikato Expressway to use it as an example is one of the roads of national significance. It links Hamilton to Auckland and it assists in the link of Hamilton to Tauranga and from Tauranga to Auckland. That is a project of about $2.5 billion. We have been waiting 30 years for it. We are finally getting it within 10 years paid by the Government through our taxes. It is good news for Hamilton. It creates economic growth in the north of my city. It creates economic growth in the east of our city through Tainui Group Holdings developments. The major inland port is a big part of that. It is important for the regions that surround Hamilton like the Coromandel which are very much focused on growth for their citizens and their areas as well. Yet the people in this Chamber who oppose the road will not come and say that to the people in that city. They stay in Wellington where it is cosy and they are safe and they can talk about some kind of economic strategy that came from the last report that they read fromsome academic but going to the people and actually telling the people “No we will not build the roads that you actually want.” is not something they will do.But the public are not that silly. The public see through Labour and the Green Party. They know that they cannot trust them to get those roads built. They know that the infrastructure for which this roading network will be important will actually deliver jobs and opportunities for them. They know that having that infrastructure is important for their livelihoods. The people in Hamilton know that their future is linked to Auckland’s future and every dollar spent in Auckland is a good dollar for Hamilton because that actually builds the strength of our region and that northern part of the North Island. The Labour Party and the Green Party still pretend that they rule the roost.