Smith Lockwood: Land Transport Management Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Smith Lockwood: Land Transport Management Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:613;Page:9670] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
: 
 In speaking to Part 1 of this Land Transport Management Bill I can understand why Mark Peck wants to close down the debate. The Government ought to be ashamed of this bill and of the pathetic weak Minister in the chair Paul Swain who is being pushed around by Jeanette Fitzsimons for God’s sake! Members should read clause 3 “Purpose”. Subclause (2) provides that this legislation will improve social and environmental responsibility in land transport. But our people around Auckland want some roads to be built. That Minister and his Government closed down the debate on the Penlink toll road legislation last year. They would not allow that to go ahead because Jeanette Fitzsimons did not want it to go ahead. This weak Minister kowtows to Jeanette Fitzsimons! That is pathetic. Meanwhile the other day as I tried to get to Auckland the traffic jam was right back to the end of Windy Ridge just past Warkworth. 
I say to the Minister in the chair that this legislation will not solve that problem. As may be seen in Part 1 this pathetic legislation has more to do with the Greens doing deals with Labour than with solving the problem—and the purpose clause reveals that totally; it shows there are backroom deals. Jeanette Fitzsimons has told us today this is not a bill for roads. The Greens do not want to see more traffic on our roads—the Greens have already told us that—so we know that this bill is not a bill for roads. Why does this Minister think all those business organisations in New Zealand who know something about financing and construction say that this legislation will not work? 
Hon Paul Swain 
: Not all of them. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: Almost invariably they all say it will not work. The Minister can probably find one obscure business group somewhere that may say it is possible this legislation will work but almost without exception they all say it will not work. When we read the purpose clause we find it is obvious why the legislation will not work: because the focus is on social and environmental issues and on long-term planning. Again we have heard from Jeanette Fitzsimons what that means: long-term planning so that nothing ever happens. Then we turn to clause 4 and find that is all about the Treaty of Waitangi—more roads around the country being held up by taniwha. 
This Minister has got to get his act together. He is being pushed around by Jeanette Fitzsimons on this legislation and that is clear in Part 1. He is being pushed around by officials when it comes to road safety issues. He is not prepared to take a stand himself based on research. He lets the officials push him around. The death of New Zealanders will be on this Minister’s head because this legislation will not result in building better roads in order to save lives. The changes to transport enforcement that the Minister is proposing will result in more accidents and more deaths. Research is starting to show us that fact. 
As we debate Part 1 I am angry about this legislation because it so clearly makes it— 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: There are great roads up there. The member knows absolutely nothing about this. 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH 
: I say to the Government that the Environment Court has just ruled that this Government is so useless at making progress on roading that the court wants the Government to be back in court next year. The court has extended the use of the link road at the end of the northern motorway for only 10 months and the Albany to Puhoi realignment B2 (ALPURT B2) has a build time of 3 years. The Environment Court does not trust this Minister; it knows that this legislation will do nothing. So the Environment Court wants the Government to be back in court in 10 months’ time because it knows there will be no progress and it wants to keep the heat on this Minister and this Government. The Environment Court does not trust the Government. That is the only explanation as to why when the court knows the build time for the road is 3 years it wants the Government to be back in court in just 10 months. 
In conclusion I emphasise that when we look at Part 1 which contains principally the purpose of the bill and the definitions we see clearly that this bill will not result in more roads for New Zealand.