Gosche Mark: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Gosche Mark: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:626;Page:21327] 
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 To quote the Leader of the Opposition all I can say after listening to that speech last night from the member and again this morning is “Baloney!” I heard Dr Mapp last night claim that the National Party had the North Shore busway ready to go in 1997. Have members ever in their lives heard such a big misrepresentation of the truth? No. That is because transport issues do not matter to members opposite. Where is National’s transport spokesperson this morning? Where is Maurice Williamson? Why is he not here praising the Government for the projects that are reported as having been built or under construction? 
The report talks about the central motorway junction in Auckland. What did the previous National Government do about that in 9 long years? It did nothing. It just looked at the bits of concrete sticking out of the ground which had been there for 20 years and did nothing. And it would do that again if it were ever allowed to be in Government again. 
Greenhithe in Auckland is under construction. Mercer to Long Swamp in the Waikato is under construction. Hewlett’s flyover in the Bay of Plenty is under construction. Mackay’s Crossing in Wellington is under construction. The inner-city bypass in Wellington is under construction. The Albany to Puhoi realignment B2 is under construction. Then it will be a toll road—something the National Party talked about but did nothing about in terms of legislation. We had to pass legislation one Christmas I remember to try to help Tauranga out. It was a special piece of legislation. 
What has this Government done? We have legislation that allows it to happen very simply with the Minister of Transport being convinced that it is a good project and ticking off a number of boxes that ask whether it will work financially whether the public supports it and whether there is an alternative road. All of that law has been passed. What did the National Government do? It did absolutely nothing. Did it allow for private-public partnerships in the law in 9 long years? It did nothing. But this Government has got on and done the real work. 
That is why in Auckland there is a “buildability” problem. That is why the construction industry is in Samoa trying to recruit labour. It is also off in South Africa and Zimbabwe trying to get civil engineers. It cannot actually keep up with the tendering process and at the moment a major project in Auckland—State Highway 20—is under way but other projects that follow it are having to get consortiums of New Zealand construction companies put together to be able to tender because not one single company is able to do it on its own. There is too much work and that is why the Australians are over here in consortiums actually tendering for New Zealand projects because there is so much work so much money that the industry cannot keep up. 
This report talks about that. It talks about the “buildability” problems—the labour shortages. It talks about the things the Government has done in terms of requiring 10-year plans so that everybody knows that there is a major piece of construction going on and that this Government is serious about fixing the issues. 
 The amount will be $18.9 billion over the next 10 years. What is National saying it will do? Last night we heard that a National Government would spend yet another $4.5 billion over that same period of time. How would that fix the problem? Labour is talking $18.9 billion over the next 10 years; National is talking $4.5 billion—and it is talking about having tolls. It is saying: “Oh no no. We’re going to give you a couple of bucks tax cut over here before Christmas in whatever year—who knows? But we’ll toll you so much that you won’t be able to afford to go on that road.” National would just tax people a different way. That is the age-old trick of the Tories over there. They do nothing but make the public pay for all the projects that this Government has the funds to do under its current regime. 
This is a great report. This is a report that one would never have found under a National Government because it has things in it that have actually been done. Construction is taking place all over the country. There are roadworks for half the distance between Auckland to Waikato. What happened under previous National Governments? Absolutely zip. They did nothing. They had a cost-benefit ratio system that made them think they could not do little improvements here or there because that might stop a project from going ahead. They said that anyway there was not enough money. 
When I became the Minister I was told: “You’ll build nothing in Auckland in your first 3 years because the National Government has done nothing to prepare for it and there isn’t the money in the kitty to pay for it. In fact in our first 3 years in Government both Puhinui and Grafton Gully were built.