Bennett David: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Bennett David: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2458] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 After that speech from the Labour member Darren Hughes we need to get some facts straight. It is simply rubbish that National is planning to cut out public transport. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: It’s true. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: It is not true at all. The reality is that National is committed to all forms of transport. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Just before the Committee rose for dinner I spoke in reply to what Labour members had been saying about transport planning and funding under this new National Government. They were concerned about what they perceive as a lack of focus on public transport and environmental initiatives. We need to dispel those rumours straight away because National is very much focused on public transport and environmental concerns. The transport portfolio gives us a manner in which to focus on those concerns. 
Hon David Carter 
: Sensible. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: I think Mr David Carter is saying that it is a sensible solution and that is quite true. When we look at public transport we see that the National Government has committed to the electrification in Auckland which is the big public transport issue in Auckland at this time. The Labour Party members stand up and say that we are not committed to public transport but that is not true. National has made that commitment; we are very much in the mode of wanting to see that commitment to that public transport element through the electrification of the trains in Auckland become a reality. 
If we look at the environmental concerns that were raised by Labour members we see that they need to look forward at how transport planning will be in the future. One can see the movement that the US has made through the Obama regime to get cleaner greener fuel sources for cars. In New Zealand we will adopt that technology at some point in time and we will find that in 10 years’ time the cleanest greenest form of transport will be electric cars on roads. That is the future of transport solutions. It is not far away. There have been developments in some of the big US universities in the last couple of weeks; they are moving towards that technology and trying to make it a practical reality. The US administration is supporting that and I think that National’s endeavours to get some of our main structural roads finished will actually have big environmental paybacks in the future. New Zealand is setting itself up to take advantage of that clean green technology in the future. 
That leads on to what is probably the biggest initiative and something that the Minister needs to be wholeheartedly congratulated on: identifying roads of national significance. That is a major structural change to the thinking of transport solutions in New Zealand. New Zealanders traditionally thought of all roads all public transport and all other forms of transport together and dealt with them in one process through the regional land transport committees. We have found that some major strategic roads need to be taken out of that process and put into a much more simplified and quicker process that enables the investment the Government makes in nationally significant roads and other structures to become roads and structures that get built on time and for the future of the economy. That will provide efficiency and economic growth for this country. The Minister of Transport has taken that very bold step and it reflects what has been done in many other countries like Australia. He should be congratulated on his bold approach. He is showing vision and direction for an industry and a portfolio that has really lacked that in past years. If we look at what will happen with Auckland’s governance issues and put that together with those bold steps that the Minister has pronounced we will see some major solutions coming forward that will deliver for New Zealand transport in the future. 
If we look at what the previous Labour Government did we see that it went through a series of transport Ministers none of whom achieved anything in their portfolios. Those transport Ministers were really just biding trying to blame the previous transport Minister or past Governments. They did not have any visible solutions and it was not until the National Party came into office that we saw some reform in process and some delivery that will bring about the necessary completion of roading projects and of the public transport network throughout New Zealand. The Labour Party initiated a series of reviews to try to hide the issues around public transport.