Davis Kelvin: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Davis Kelvin: Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 If there were ever an advertisement for reducing to a zero-alcohol intake that speech was it from the Hon Tau Henare. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. One cannot say suggest or even imply that a member has been drinking. I want to go further. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: No I hear what the member says. I just remind members to be very careful about what one says. Let us have a debate on Part 1. Time is running out and I would like to think we could actually say something constructive about Part 1. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: I seek leave to make a personal statement to the House. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: About what? 
Hon Tau Henare 
: About the accusation that has been made. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Leave is sought for that purpose. Is there any objection? There is no objection. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: I want to go on record as saying that I have never and will never take a drink or even look like I take a drink. Everybody I know who knows me knows that I actually hardly ever touch a drop of the devil’s water. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: I would like to apologise. We all realised he was sober when he made that speech. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: That does not add any value whatsoever. The member has made a personal statement. That is the end of the matter and let us keep it on those terms. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: I apologise for the offence that was taken. I also take issue with what the Minister Steven Joyce said about the Land Transport (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Bill simply being a transport issue because it is not. It is about my uncle Tony who wrapped himself around one of the three bridges between Kawakawa and Moerewa some 30 years ago. It is about him the widow he left behind his seven kids and the impact that that accident has had on our whanau in those 30 years. It is about the young fellow I played rugby with 5 years ago. He did not actually have enough time to play enough games with us for me to get to know him properly and know his name. I played rugby with him one Saturday and the next morning at 7 o’clock he too wrapped himself around a bridge at Waipapakauri. It is about the young fellow whose tangi I attended in the valley across from where I come from who had an accident and when we looked at him in his casket we could see that his head had caved in. That is what it is about. It is about people’s lives and the impact of deaths on families. That is what it is about. It is not simply about just getting in the car or on a motorbike and travelling from point A to point B. It is about people’s lives. That is why we have to get it right. 
I agree with Gareth Hughes. We are talking about a land transport bill. As far as I am aware trains do travel on land. If we could reduce the amount of heavy trucks and heavy vehicles transporting goods on our main roads that would make things safer for us. In fact new section 16A talks about a restriction of heavy traffic on roads. Let us have a restriction; let us move the heavy traffic and transport heavy goods by rail so that there is more space on our roads for cars. Let us look at actually maintaining the rail line between Whangarei and Auckland so that we can remove the heavy vehicles from roads in that region. 
New section 16A states: “The Agency … or another road controlling authority … may by public notice direct that any heavy traffic or any specified kind of heavy traffic defined in the notice may not proceed between any 2 places by way of any road or roads specified in the notice.” I put in a plea for those of us who live in Kaitaia and the far north that one of those places that heavy traffic may not travel between is Victoria Valley and Mangamuka Bridge. In between those two locations there are 13 kilometres of windy Northland road and alluvial clay which just cannot handle that heavy traffic. When people are driving between Victoria Valley and Mangamuka Bridge and come up behind a logging truck there is nowhere to pass. When they can finally get past they speed off ahead and within 200 metres they come across another heavy logging truck. They overtake that one finally and then there is a third truck. These are the roading conditions we have to live with up in the far north on a daily basis. 
No section in this bill drops the blood-alcohol level from 80 milligrams down to 50 milligrams. What evidence do we need other than looking in the newspapers and on the news every day and seeing the accidents and the fatalities? If we need evidence why do we not just look at the news? That is the evidence we need. We do not need all those long reports to see what is happening to people. 
Michael Woodhouse 
: Tell us what your uncle’s BAC was. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
:Who cares what Michael Woodhouse thinks? Who really cares what he thinks? Michael Woodhouse is so removed from reality like this National Government that he actually does not know what is going on.