Bennett David: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee[Sitting date: 17 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18539. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East):I would like to just congratulate the Minister of Transport on the great work that he has done in this area over the last 3 years. He is an exceptional Minister and always welcome in the Waikato. He can come there any time unlike the Opposition members who never come to the Waikato and when they do come they do not have anything to say of any consequence.Hon Ruth Dyson: You can’t say we never come and then say what we do when we do come.DAVID BENNETT: Oh that member is pretty much a non-event when Labour members do come if they do come.As for Mr Twyford we hear this speech every year from the Labour Party saying how it is going to have a multimodal solution using all the terminology about “we’re investing in roads and rail and maritime and all those things and public transport.” There is all that talk but no actual definite details about what the Labour Party wants to do. Why does it not come out and actually say what it wants to do? There is a reason New Zealanders why Labour members do not come out and say what they want to do. It is because they know that what they want to do is in direct conflict with the Green Party and they cannot afford to have that fight before the election.Who runs transport policy in the left wing? It is the Green Party. It is Julie Anne Genter. Julie Anne runs it not Phil Twyford.The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Order! Members’ full names.DAVID BENNETT: If you were a betting person you would put your money on Julie Anne Genter to have more power over the transport portfolio than Mr Phil Twyford—the nice guy that he may be. That is the reality of the Labour Party policy. It is all hot air and talk and no commitment. Will it commit to the Waikato Expressway? No it will not commit to the Waikato Expressway. It will not commit to building that because it knows that Julie Anne Genter has gone out and said that she wants to review that project. Julie Anne Genter when asked about that project a mere 2 weeks ago said that the Green Party would review that project.What about other roads of national significance around the country? What about the Pūhoi road which I am sure Mike Sabin will want to know about? What is the Greens’ policy on that? What is the Greens’ policy on Transmission Gully? The Green members will tell us the next time. They will be open and honest and tell you what they think. They will go out there and say that they are not doing them. The Labour Party in effect will not be doing them either. So New Zealanders need to listen to what the Green Party is saying because that is the Labour Party transport policy.Then we have New Zealand First the other arm in the Labour - left-wing attempt to try to get seats in Parliament. It came up with this transport policy that I would love to see rearticulated in this Chamber. We had a transport debate last week and we had the New Zealand First transport policy that was for passenger rail from every city in New Zealand: passenger rail from Wanganui to Wellington passenger rail from Hamilton to Auckland passenger rail from Timaru to Christchurch—passenger rail everywhere and anywhere.Denis O’Rourke: That’s right.DAVID BENNETT: Oh and all these trains would have been built in New Zealand of course under New Zealand First policy. But I want to see New Zealand First come up here and say what it said at that transport conference. Denis O’Rourke has got his chance to come out and say it. How is New Zealand going to afford a train from Wanganui to Wellington? Tell me that. How are we going to afford that? That is what the New Zealand First Policy is. The Green Party policy actually pales in comparison with New Zealand First’s policy. The Green Party used to be the party of trains but now it is New Zealand First that is the party of trains and the Green Party now has to up its game to match that.On this side of the House on the Government side we see a party that has good strong leadership and a Minister who has taken a balanced approach to transport funding. Not only have we invested heavily in the infrastructure of our roads but we have invested heavily in our rail networkWe have invested in the KiwiRail Turnaround Plan. We have invested in public transport options in Auckland and we have a plan for that public transport going forward. That is a balanced approach. We have taken action in the maritime and aviation areas where it has been required as well. That is what transport policy demands not the Julie Anne Genter model of transport policy. Thank you.