Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to stand and take a call on this the Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill. I'm very pleased that in the Chamber today is the Hon Phil Twyford because I'm calling on him when I've finished my call to get up and to speak to the people of Rodney because last week in the House in response to questions asked by Jami-Lee Ross he stood and he made some very clear commitments around Penlink. He linked the regional fuel tax directly to the delivery of Penlink. Penlink for those in the committee who don't know is a project that's been around for a long time. It's very important to my electorate of Rodney and especially to the people on the Hibiscus Coast.Jamie Strange: But the National Party never funded it. You guys never funded it. You promised it.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Basically it's a road that would have linked Whangaparāoa on the Hibiscus Coast back into the main State highway. And that's very true—that's very true that when I came into office in 2011 it was a priority for me. There were two big infrastructure priorities. One was the delivery of the Pūhoi to Warkworth road which is now under construction and being built. Unfortunately your Government Mr Strange has now cancelled the Warkworth to Te Hana road which is also fundamentally very important to the people of Rodney and the people of Northland.The other project was Penlink. Penlink was a tough one because Penlink was originally seen as a local road so it was Auckland Transport's responsibility and the council's responsibility and then eventually the Government became involved and we said Yes let's look at trying to do this as a partnership." Eventually before the 2017 election I finally got support from the Minister of Transport the Hon Simon Bridges and he said "Let's go to the campaign. Let's say that we will go from four lanes to two lanes but we will build it in the next term. We will create a Crown agency we'll raise the capital we'll do a public-private partnership and we'll deliver the project in the next term." And I said "Thank you very much." because the big thing about Penlink is this: the community is deeply fatigued with hollow promises over the last 20 or 30 years in terms of what's going to happen with it. So you have to be very careful in terms of how you treat it not overpromise and actually manage the expectations realistically.You've got to remember that in Rodney we are pretty heavily tolled. When you look at the roading network currently we have two tolls and Penlink will give us three. We're deeply cynical about what's actually happening at local government level because if you look at the satisfaction surveys in Rodney and Pukekohe on the fringes of the super-city we feel like we're missing out and we're not getting the investment that we need.When the Penlink announcement was made I celebrated that. I said great because we needed it. But what I want the Minister to do—because I am very worried about this project. That's why I'd like him to get up and outlay for us—because he keeps talking about Penlink and he keeps linking it back to the regional fuel tax—when work on Penlink is going to begin. I want to know when this project is going to begin because we were very clear as a Government. I campaigned on this. I'm on record as saying "We will start Penlink in our next term. We will start the project."Penlink is one of the few projects in Auckland that's ready to go. There are no delays on it. The consenting's done; the route is confirmed. In fact one part of the Penlink from the Weiti development is already under way. I went and visited it about three weeks ago. The private part of the road is actually already started. But what I want the Minister to do when I sit down is to take a call and clearly outline for the people of Rodney and explain to them when we can expect to see a start date and a beginning on Penlink. I would be very pleased if he could get up and make that commitment and say that Penlink will start this term: "We will deliver Penlink for the people of Rodney for the people of the Hibiscus Coast this term."It's a critically important piece of infrastructure and I want him to reassure all of us that you're not playing politics on this that you are committed to it and that the regional fuel tax is going to deliver Penlink. Thank you very much Madam Chair."