Adams Paul: Third Readings 
Adams Paul: Third Readings 
[Volume:622;Page:17238] 
PAUL ADAMS (United Future) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of United Future to speak on these land transport bills. I speak on behalf of our good member Larry Baldock who has done a wonderful job on transportation issues. I see here that the Government has removed that provision relating to “safety at reasonable cost” but I say to the Minister of Transport that surely he should have put in “safety at reasonable speed” which would probably be about 120 kilometres an hour! Obviously that was overlooked but never mind. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: Petrolhead! 
PAUL ADAMS 
: That is correct! I just pick up on what Jeanette Fitzsimons was saying about borrowing to fund roading being provided now. Surely if I bought a house 20 years ago at a certain price and only today am I having to pay the interest on it that has to be far more cost-effective than trying to find the money 20 years later and having to pay $400000 or $500000 for a product I could have bought 20 years ago for less. I think the Greens also fail to understand that if roads are put into place now that will have benefits for the economy because transport will be speeded up and businesses will operate far more efficiently. 
But never mind I come back to this legislation which United Future is very happy to support. It is long past the time that the Government transport sector should have been restructured in such a way that a single agency had the authority and the resources to take the lead in developing and implementing transport policy and that administrative overlap and wastage were minimised. I think that one of the great things about this legislation is that a lot of that overlap and wastage will be minimised. 
United Future has worked closely on transport issues with this Government. We are determined to see the problem of the chronic underfunding of New Zealand’s transport infrastructure addressed and we are determined to see reforms that will enable much-needed new roading projects all over the country to be expedited. We have already made significant legislative reforms that will enable alternative sources of funding such as the utilisation of public-private partnerships. We have also ensured that extra funding for all regions—not just Auckland—will be made available from petrol excise tax and that a more favourable proportion of that tax will actually be spent on roads rather than ending up in the Crown account. 
However there is little point in securing extra funding if it will just be frittered away by an uncoordinated bureaucracy or tied up while projects are waiting to get the go-ahead. That is why United Future is so pleased to see this legislation. By strengthening the role of the Ministry of Transport that single agency will be able to take the lead in developing and implementing transport strategy. Rather than having one agency pulling in one direction and another pulling in another and both spending road-funding money in an inefficient and uncoordinated manner as they go we will see road money being spent strategically and efficiently thereby maximising the gains from increased funding. 
United Future is also pleased to see resolved the longstanding issue over which agency should have primary responsibility for undertaking search and rescue coordination. By enabling the Minister of Transport to direct the new maritime transport authority rather than the Civil Aviation Authority to carry out the management and administration of national search and rescue in the future we will hopefully see better search and rescue coverage and response times and avoid a repeat of the incident near Oamaru that resulted in tragic loss of life. 
So United Future is happy to support this legislation at its third reading.