Adams Paul: Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Adams Paul: Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:618;Page:14001] 
PAUL ADAMS (United Future) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of United Future to say that we are very pleased to support this legislation. Auckland is a unique place. It is a large expansive area and of course has the challenges of being an urban area comprised of many cities. One of the challenges in terms of roading issues in Auckland is that various local bodies have been doing the very best for their areas but very few have been standing back and looking at the overall picture of what needs to be built and what is needed in order to control the area as a whole to keep transport and people moving through it. I agree with the Greens that we need to look at rail bicycles buses and all those things. However I challenge members who rubbish the motorcar and ask what good it has done for anybody to speak to trades people like mechanics panel beaters car dealers and everyone else who is employed in the motor industry. As it turns out the motor industry is one of the largest employers on the globe and I think that those members would be seriously challenged on the good that the motorcar has done for it. 
Any structure that is set up—and we are supportive of these structures—is only as good as the people within it. My hope is that the people who set up these structures will be forward thinkers and that they will stand back and look at the overall picture and begin to strategise on what will be good for Auckland and our nation over the next 20 30 40 or 50 years. For example I have always failed to understand why it is that when land is bought to build a motorway the left and right lanes are built from the centre point of that land instead of those lanes going out as far to the left and as far to the right as is possible on that land and why the surplus space is not left in the middle for future development. Whether that land is used for future lanes or for rail cycleways or whatever other purpose why are the two lanes each way plonked in the centre and why is the surplus land on the right and left sides sold off back into private ownership perhaps enabling people to build houses on it? We then find 20 years later that that land has to be purchased back again and that makes no sense to me at all. I hope that forward-thinking people will begin to think about traffic flows and about the importance of clearly numbering the exits on every off-ramp around Auckland City. Traffic does slow because motorists do not know whether they are at the right exit. If Auckland had a simple numbering system like that of many of the large cities in the world showing No. 7 No. 8 or No. 9 off-ramp for a motorist to exit from it would make a large difference. 
I believe that Auckland City has had forward thinkers prior to now. Sir Dove-Meyer Robinson a former Mayor of Auckland planned a rapid rail system that was years before its time and had everything laid out yet the Government of the day abolished that plan. I am sure that Aucklanders regret that. I hope that when the Government begins to review the overall strategy for Auckland it will look at things that make a lot of sense such as retaining Whenuapai airport and other structures that will be needed for our great city in the days that lie ahead. 
Previously each council has promoted its own pet project. Thankfully through the passing of this legislation we will see that fade away as the councils now work together collectively look at the overall good of Auckland City and begin to lay out the roading rail and bus structures that Auckland needs. As I heard one previous speaker say I would like to see any Auckland MP who does not support this legislation stand before the citizens of Auckland hold up his or her head and say that he or she does not support this legislation which will make the way forward to progress solutions to the challenges that Auckland has had for many reasons and for many years. Personally as an Aucklander I am thankful to see that roads are under way now. I am glad that this type of legislation is going through the House and will make a pathway for those who are appointed to various authorities and give them the power to make the correct decisions. Once again we always have to deal with people. I really hope that the ones who come here are forward thinkers who do not just look at the issue today but also consider and think through the issues of tomorrow. Auckland is an expanding city and there is no doubt about that. 
When my friend from the Green Party said that we were running out of room on the planet I wondered whether he lived on the same planet as I do. If he thinks that New Zealand is overpopulated with 4 million people he had better travel to other cities of the world. I will stand corrected on the space allocated here but I have read that we currently have enough space on our planet that if every person was allocated his or her portion of land he or she would be living on a 10-acre block. Yes we do have many challenges on the planet. Often people say millions of people are starving. We have enough food; it is just that it is not distributed correctly. 
To come back to the Auckland roading issue we have a fantastic city. Auckland is a buzzing humming city that will hum even better once we hear the sound of the thundering V8s running around the streets of Auckland as they used to run around the streets of Wellington. I would welcome that. We need wisdom in our choice of a circuit. Maybe the planners will see the wisdom of putting a central Auckland motor racing circuit right in the city and I would support that. Or perhaps we could put it out at Whenuapai. 
United Future supports this legislation. We believe that it makes a way forward. It will enable planners and strategists to think together. I hope that they think not just 2 or 3 years out but 10 20 and 30 years out into the future and that Auckland will continue to expand and become the great city it expects to be.