Yates Dianne: General Debate 
Yates Dianne: General Debate 
[Volume:625;Page:20245] 
DIANNE YATES (Labour—Hamilton East) 
: 
 I want to talk today about the total disrespect that Don Brash has shown to the voters in the Waikato—a huge taxpayer base in this country—and to share with the House something I read this afternoon in a newspaper: “It’s nice to know Don Brash cares. This week in Hamilton the National Party leader said he would get the Waikato Expressway—all 95km of it from Mercer to Cambridge—finished within 10 years. … Sadly” says the writer “it sounds more like something you’d read on a Tui billboard than anything that might be achievable.” Yeah right! “But then we are just months away from a general election when political spending pledges multiply like pollen spores in spring. Close examination of Dr Brash’s promise quickly reveals some fatal flaws.” 
This is the first: “Among the most obvious is the overhaul of the Resource Management Act required if National is to push through the Expressway project in a decade. That is not a simple task and will require extensive consultation and persuasion to convince anyone it is in the country’s best interests. By its own admission National says the act that exists to protect the environment would need ‘gutting’. Politicians will be extremely wary of such an assertion.”—and I am sure that Simon Upton would agree. 
Secondly: “Then there is the issue of cost. National says it will fund the $450 million project by doubling the allocation of petrol tax revenue that goes towards roading from 18c a litre to 36c”— 
Darren Hughes 
: It won’t add up. 
DIANNE YATES 
: It certainly will not add up and the figures keep changing in every speech that Don Brash makes. I also remember distinctly that in this House Don Brash and his cronies voted against that motor spirit tax. 
The article continues: “Don Brash has yet to say what that will mean to local authorities ACC and other groups that are currently funded by the petrol tax. Thirdly the feasibility of negotiating with landowners completing design work and finding enough skilled labour to get the work done within such a constrained timeframe is highly dubious.” 
It goes on: “While this region desperately needs the Expressway completed and any initiative to push it along is welcome a reality check is required.”—and where did I find this comment? I found it in the very esteemed newspaper the  
Waikato Times 
. 
Simon Power 
: Let Winnie Laban speak. 
DIANNE YATES 
: No I tell the member that those words are from the editor— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: It’s a well-known Labour Party rag! 
DIANNE YATES 
:—Exactly!—of that well-known Labour Party rag the  
Waikato Times 
. 
Would members believe that Don Brash came to Hamilton on Monday and launched—supposedly—a billboard in Hamilton and that that billboard was second hand? It had been up in Auckland for a couple of weeks yet he came to Hamilton on a very rainy day claiming he was launching it. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He just can’t remember. It’s one of those things about getting old. 
DIANNE YATES 
: Exactly—he cannot remember. I read in the paper this morning that he should be given the “limp jandal” award as well. 
In the same newspaper yesterday is the headline: “Brash pledges Waikato Expressway haste”. Then right alongside we have another headline: “Drivers enjoying new road stretch”. I am sure Paul Hutchison will be pleased about that. The article states: “Drivers on the Waitako Expressway to Auckland are enjoying some of the best conditions in years with the opening of a new section of just-completed road. The southern end of the Longswamp to Mercer section of the Waikato Expressway was opened at Anzac weekend. Transport project manager Eric van der Wel said motorists were now travelling 1km along the north-bound lanes while work began on the two adjacent southbound lanes. The new section takes out dangerous bends. It begins at the end of the Hampton Downs straight”—which I am sure Paul Hutchison will be pleased with—“and finishes near the entrance to the Meremere dragstrip.” 
So recent comments made by Don Brash to the Automobile Association in Napier when he said he was going to put Auckland first have now been countered by the same person. He does deserve the “limp jandal” award. Then in Hamilton as I said he promised $450 million. I have seen other evidence that he has promised $100 million a year over the next 6 years. It really is a strange turn of events.