Lees-Galloway Iain: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLees-Galloway Iain: General Debate[Sitting date: 26 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11286. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North):Today is a fantastic day for the Labour Party and it is a very very bad day—it is a very very bad day—for Gerry Brownlee and a very very bad day for Steven Joyce. Poor Gerry Brownlee during question time had to stand there and take the questions from Phil Twyford and Gerry Brownlee—you could see it in his face. He wanted the Earth to open up and swallow him whole but unfortunately for Gerry even the planet does not have that kind of appetite. Even the planet could not swallow Gerry Brownlee whole. He had to stand there and take it today as he realised that his Government had done another U-turn another backflip which has become the trademark of this National Government.Sitting next to him was Steven Joyce. I have never seen Steven Joyce squirm as much as he did during question time today. Normally he looks like he is plotting. Normally he looks like he is scheming—the Machiavellian machine of the National Party trying to figure out how he is going to see off Judith Collins after the next election when John Key has to stand down—but he did not look happy today. He was not plotting and scheming today. He was squirming because National has been found out. It has finally had to sign up to the Auckland City Rail Link which is so popular with Aucklanders.It makes economic sense and it is something that the Labour Party has been calling for for years. It was in our election manifesto at the last election. That is how committed the Labour Party has been to the Auckland City Rail Link. That is how committed we are to sensible investment in transport infrastructure for Auckland.Steven Joyce and Gerry Brownlee would like you to think that this is just a slight change—that this is just a time frame that they are adding to their lukewarm commitment to the Auckland City Rail Link. But this is what Steven Joyce had to say about it. When Steven Joyce was asked whether there was anybody who was less enthusiastic about the Auckland City Rail Link he said: “Hmm well possibly the finance Minister.” Steven Joyce was happy and proud to say that he was the person who was least enthusiastic about the Auckland City Rail Link. That is what he thought about it. Gerry Brownlee said that he thought that it was neither useful nor popular.National’s position on rail has been absolutely clear for years but National members of course like typical conservatives are always the last ones to the party. They are always the last ones to figure out what is the right thing to do. Labour has been talking about this for years Mayor Len Brown has been talking about this for years and Mayor Len Brown has got a consensus around this issue: the business groups the community groups the unions—everybody in Auckland wants this. The only people who did not want it were in the National Government. They have finally decided that they have to come round. They do not agree with it they do not like it but they realise that they are wrong and we are right and it is as simple as that.But of course National does not believe in rail and it is still allowing its obsession with the roads of national significance to dictate all investment in transport infrastructure.Hon David Parker: They’re delaying the rail tunnel.IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: It is delaying the rail link and it is delaying anything to do with rail so when will this be built? Well it might get started in 2020 if we are lucky. Why is that? Because there is nothing left. The cupboard is bare. All the moneyhas been spent on uneconomic monster motorways up and down the country. The Pūhoi to Wellsford “Holiday Highway” is still more important to the National Government than the Auckland City Rail Link. That is why it cannot afford to build it now. That is why Aucklanders have to wait until 2020. Roads and highways are still the trump card in the National Government’s transport policy.National does not believe in having a sensible transport strategy. It does not believe in having an integrated transport system. It believes only in having highways. That is all that it believes in. There is no sense to it. It is just the National Government’s fixation and of course it is the fixation with roads of the supporters of National the people who fund the National Party. It is their fixation with roads that is dominating the National Government’s policy. That is why that Government over there will never invest in an integrated transport network and that is why it has been so slow to catch up with everybody else who has been calling for the Auckland City Rail Link for years.Thank goodness National has finally seen sense and it has finally decided to implement a wonderful Labour policy. It is a great day for Labour. We look forward to National implementing more and more Labour policy because it is the only place that the good ideas come from.