Jones Dail: Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Jones Dail: Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:618;Page:14027] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 This bill is a positive step towards doing something for the Auckland area. New Zealand First is prepared to put this minority Labour Government on its mettle to establish that that will happen. So far of course from what we have seen things do seem to be getting on in Auckland. When I go home on a Thursday night quite often I am not allowed to get on to the Gillies Avenue entryway on to the motorway because it is being worked on. That is a good thing as far as I am concerned. It means I get on to the motorway at Green Lane rather than at Gillies Avenue. 
Anyone who goes on to the Auckland motorway from the eastern suburbs or the central city “Spaghetti Junction” area knows that there are problems in the Gillies Avenue Mountain Road and Khyber Pass areas and that is because work is being done. As an Aucklander I think that the main thing we are looking for is that some work is being done. We may not understand what those workers are doing but we know they are inconveniencing us and that something must be happening because the engineers must know what they are doing. All I can say is that I cannot recall any work being done between 1990 and 1999 and I cannot recall any work being done between 1999 and 2002 either to be frank. But it is happening now and it is reassuring. We have seen of course what has happened at Stanley Street. It upset the tennis this year. Stanley Street has been totally distorted one might say but it has been well developed because work has been done in that area. 
As far as New Zealand First is concerned something seems to be happening. This bill appears to be more progress in that direction. I would like to take a point off the Minister Chris Carter. He said that this Labour Government is putting $1.6 billion into roads. As usual that is over 10 years. An amount of $1.6 billion spent on motorways over 10 years is just chicken feed; it is neither here nor there. [ 
Interruption 
] Better than me? When I was in Parliament between 1975 and 1984 we were right on track with everything. Unfortunately a Labour Government came in in 1984 and things have gone downhill ever since. But that was in those days. What we are looking at now in New Zealand First is the future and I would not want Mr O’Connor to interrupt my flow of thought. We are looking at this from the point of the future and progress is being made. 
The other thing that I think probably happened between 1990 and 1999 was that all the funds I suspect went to the South Island for some reason or another. There are some lovely roads in the South Island. I have driven down the West Coast. There is no traffic of course but there are lots of lovely roads. When I drove down the West Coast my biggest problem was Italian cyclists. When I drove around a bend I saw them straining away on bicycles—just like the Greens would like them to do—with backpacks on their backs and I had to worry about them more than I ever did about anything on four wheels! I think that is where all the National Party’s money went—down to the West Coast to try to win that West Coast - Tasman seat with the usual result. But we are seeing things happen in Auckland now and that is very encouraging. 
My real question to the Minister is: with all the work that is under way and with the money that should be available are we going to have the ability to undertake this work? I am looking to see the Mount Roskill deviation coming on stream. That is what I am really looking for from a west Auckland viewpoint and I see that that has been announced in the paper. I think all the resource consents have now been finalised on that and I am looking forward to people from the western area going around through Mount Roskill. The problem in Auckland is not getting into the city. We in Auckland do not want to go into the city; we want to go around it. 
Dianne Yates 
: Oh! 
DAIL JONES 
: Well we do not want to go into Auckland city. We are forced to at the moment. If one lives on the North Shore or in west Auckland one is forced to go into the city and then go out of it again. In Auckland what one really wants to do is to miss the city. When I was in business I went into Auckland only after 11 a.m. and I made sure I left by 3 p.m. because I hated going into Auckland. Aucklanders on the whole try to avoid the city but we cannot avoid it at the moment and that is why I am keen on this Mount Roskill development and to make sure that the Mount Roskill roading system which links up to the north-western motorway gets under way quickly. There are people who want to use that to get across to Wiri and such like and the south of Auckland where they tend to work. That will relieve the pressure on the people who actually do want to go into Auckland. 
As far as the eastern corridor is concerned as I understand it the National Party is going to cancel out the Resource Management Act. If that happens what will that do to the eastern corridor? They will build that eastern corridor whether or not the people like it. If one gets rid of the Resource Management Act which now prevents the development of an eastern corridor just overnight the people out in Howick Pakuranga Remuera and such like will have the eastern corridor forced on them by Maurice Williamson.