Williamson Maurice: Land Transport Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Williamson Maurice: Land Transport Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21345] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) 
: 
 I am very happy to take a call on the Land Transport Amendment Bill on its report back from the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee because in the case of this legislation the select committee worked exceedingly well. There was pretty much broad agreement on the objectives that needed to be achieved. Obviously there was some niggling about little bits and pieces of detail and I want to get off my chest one of my niggles. This has more to do with the officials than with the Government. It relates to the fact that when the photo driver’s licence first came in I wanted it to include—and I thought that as the then Minister I should have had at least some say—a field to show when one had first obtained a licence. In my case it was when I turned 15 back in— 
Darren Hughes 
: 1945. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: No it was before the First World War as Darren Hughes will remember. I wanted to have that date on my licence and the officials said no. They told me that the licences were to comply with a European Union standard layout with the flag and the fields in certain areas and in a certain order. I remember having quite an argument about that. I was finally beaten into submission because officials always ruled the roost when I was around. [ 
Interruption 
] All right—sometimes. The officials said that we had to stick with the layout so that when one went to a European Union country or elsewhere one would be carrying a licence in a standard format. 
I am just staggered to learn that the advice to the Government has now changed. I think that is good. I am delighted that the licence is changing and I think that will be great. I have a question for the Minister for Transport Safety. When we get another licence after this legislation comes in will the new licences go back to showing the date when one obtained one’s original licence or will they show the date when one first obtained a photo driver’s licence? I do not know whether the database now records that I first got my driver’s licence in 1966. That is a really important point because I would like my licence to show the date as 1966 and that I have been driving for that length of time. 
I am pleased that the committee dealt with some quite central issues in this legislation. I am happy to say that one of those issues—I know it is of serious concern to people like Deborah Coddington and it should be of serious concern to everybody in this House—concerns the people who drive our passenger service vehicles mainly taxis. I am not so strident about the requirements for those who drive a big bus because unless it is very late at night and on a very long thin sparse route where there may be only one passenger a bus driver has a lot less ability than a taxi-driver to do dreadful things to the passengers. In a taxi there is quite often especially late at night in a lot of parts of the city a one-on-one relationship. I think the passenger has an absolute right to know that the person who holds a P endorsement and is driving the taxi meets a number of qualifications. Passengers have a right to know that the person is a good and safe driver has knowledge of the area and will not try to go from the city out to Mount Wellington via Albany—as happened to Mark Peck—and more important than any of that does not have serious past convictions. 
I am prepared to be really hard-nosed on this issue. I am happy that the committee has reported back that as one of its changes to the bill this measure will affect not only people who apply for a P licence from now on but also people who may even be in the industry right now. I am sorry if those people get upset about that. I do not actually care whether they do. Anyone who has been convicted of murder of a serious sexual offence or of a serious violent offence even if it was 20 years ago should get another job. Those people should go and drive a truck a bulldozer a carrier or a grader. I am sorry but if they have been convicted of an offence like that the taxi industry is the one industry I do not think they should be in—on a one-to-one basis with a female passenger late at night—even if they have had a clean slate for a while. That may be punitive to one or two taxi drivers who like Steve Maharey have led a life of blameless excellence for the last 20 years and would like to stay in the industry. I am sorry but if this legislation picks on two people that is bad luck. Hard cases make bad law. This legislation is the way to go. 
It is not as though we have a shortage of taxi drivers. It is not as though we are saying that if we exclude the murderers and rapists no one will be left to drive taxis—quite the opposite of that. If anything in Auckland we have a most serious abundance of people driving taxis. We have Russian brain surgeons who have come to New Zealand and are taxi drivers. I have to say to the credit of the Government that that is better than it would be if it were the other way round—Russian taxi drivers coming here and being brain surgeons. Yes it is better than that. [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Duynhoven is referring to my earlier question. The issue of the date of the licence is fixed in the bill but will the date shown be the date when one obtained one’s original licence? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Yes. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Good there we are. The Minister for Transport Safety has earned his morning’s pay already by giving me an answer to that. I am happy to say that I do not want serious offenders of the nature of those on the list to drive taxis. I am pleased that the bill not only excludes such people from coming into the industry but also applies to those who are already in it. 
There is a lot of detail in the bill but I want to talk about just a couple more things. The first is the issue of the chain of responsibility. I am happy to see that the legislation will be amended to allow for measures whereby in let us say a trucking operation instead of pinging just the driver who may have committed an overweight offence or an unsafe driving offence— 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: It’s like Rodney. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: No no. Mr Cosgrove thinks that “overweight” applies to the driver himself personally. I am talking about the vehicle that is being driven. It is a shame that Mr Cosgrove does not keep up with these things as he should. In the past drivers would get pinged for things that they were literally squeezed into doing. 
When I was at university I used to drive for Refrigerated Freight Lines a frozen pea and frozen bean trucking company. The company told us when we came out of Napier at a certain time of the night that we had to be at the bulk frozen stores in Auckland by 7 a.m. We would say that we simply could not do that without speeding. The bosses used to say that that did not matter and that if we were caught speeding they would pay the fines. They told us that we had to just do it so we did. All the drivers broke the speed limit and I ended up being pulled over a number of times. I just gave my name the name of my company and so on and off I went. The fines were all paid. Fortunately there were no demerit points around in those days. 
Simon Power 
: Those were the days. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Those were the days. The company had to do things in that way. I kept thinking that it was a bit unfair that I was copping it. [ 
Interruption 
] There were not demerit points. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Who did that? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Demerit points came in under National. Yes I think demerit points are good; I am not arguing against them. One of the drivers—and I will not name him—racked up 18 speeding tickets within 12 months but that did not matter because Refrigerated Freight Lines picked up the tab and paid the speeding tickets and so on. 
This bill brings in what is called the chain of responsibility. It states that if a company makes a driver carry an unsafe load if a direction comes from the boss that a driver is to take a container even though it is known to be overweight or if a direction is given that a driver is to drive at a speed that exceeds the speed limit it is now possible to extend the chain of responsibility to include all appropriate transport offences where a third party has influence over the transport task. We have done that. I know that was done at the request of the Road Transport Forum. The chief executive officer of the Road Transport Forum Tony Friedlander gives our committee a lot of very very good advice. We are very lucky to have the services of those people. I look forward to dealing with some of the issues regarding this matter in the Committee stage. 
I want now to pick up on my next little niggle. I want members to think about this because it is not a big political issue and I would hope that Government members may be prepared to support a slight amendment to the bill. It is to do with the little moped Go-Ped motorised scooters. My little kids have graduated to a nice little electric scooter from the little scooter they used to stand on and use their own foot to push themselves along with. I have worked it out that the little electric motor on the scooter is 350 watts. This legislation will cover say someone who gets on one of those little scooters which little kids can flick around on in parks. We are providing in this legislation that the director of Land Transport New Zealand—and I really shudder at the thought of the power that could go to his head on this—is able to allow those vehicles to be exempt or not exempt. I suggest a more realistic level—and National members put it in our minority report—of say 600 watts which would cover nearly everything. In case anyone is interested there is a table in the bill. I will cover this issue in more detail when we get into the Committee stage on the bill.