Twyford Phil: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: General Debate[Sitting date: 26 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11282. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū):Well that was a very entertaining history lesson from Chris Finlayson but he had nothing to say about the Government’s policies and that is not surprising because they get all of their best ones from the Labour Party. Despite the hilarity from Mr Finlayson these Government members are kidding themselves that they can govern on their own after 2014. They are desperately casting around for coalition partners. They do not have one—the mad the bad and the sad are on the way out. There are no coalition partners left. They are desperately casting around and what better thing to do than to steal one of the Labour Party’s most popular policies. Mr Brownlee—yes I am talking about you.This is the background to what today is one of the most stunning policy U-turns that we have seen for a very long time. John Key is the first Prime Minister ever to do a U-turn in a train. It is the first time it has been done. This is a huge about-face. Mr Brownlee only days ago was describing the City Rail Link the policy that he supports today as a short little loop. I wondered in fact whether he was talking about Mr Finlayson but no he was talking about the City Rail Link. He also said that he doubted whether the City Rail Link was indeed either popular or useful. That flew in the face of popular opinion in Auckland. We know that 63 percent of Aucklanders in the last independent poll—Hon David Parker: Agreed with Labour.PHIL TWYFORD: —agreed with Labour that the City Rail Link was a no-brainer. Well Labour welcomes this U-turn—we do. We welcome it. It was our policy. The Government has adopted it. That is great. It is a win for Len Brown it is a win for Labour and it is a win for Auckland.Unlike the Government’s flagship policy projects—the so-called “motorways of madness”—the City Rail Link will actually double the capacity of an existing transport asset. The Minister of Transport’s motorway projects are all gold-plated duplicate projects and he is spending $1 billion every year on them. Well the City Rail Link will double the capacity of the Auckland rail network. It will allow trains to run every 5 minutes—every 5 minutes—on the western and southern lines. If you are travelling from New Lynn to the central business district into the city it will cut 28 minutes—28 minutes—off your commute. That is three times as much time cut off travel as that member’s Pūhoi to Wellsford “Holiday Highway” would do.So what this U-turn says is that the credibility of the Government’s transport policy is in tatters. What are we supposed to believe? Was Steven Joyce wrong when he said only a few weeks ago that the City Rail Link did not add up? Was Gerry Brownlee serious when he compared the City Rail Link to the failed North Haverbrook monorail inThe Simpsons ? And for what new transport policies will Gerry Brownlee be getting inspiration fromThe Simpsons ? What new thing will we see? I hope the Minister is going to take a call and tell us.What has changed Minister? The numbers have not changed. The plan for the City Rail Link has not changed. The number of Aucklanders who support this project has not changed. What has changed? You see the big losers today are Steven Joyce and Gerry Brownlee. They have been made to look like total idiots by their own Government but as I said Labour welcomes this U-turn. I think the question we have to ask is: “Why did it take so long Gerry?”. Why did it take so long? I am going to answer that question for you because there are two reasons that it has taken so long. The first is that National members have a completely messed up tortured relationship with Auckland. Anything that Len Brown supports these guys oppose—no matter how sensible no matter how popular—because their man John Banks did not win the Auckland mayoralty in 2010. They have never got over it and they have spent the last 5 years bagging the City Rail Link and leading Aucklanders on a wild goose chase that has finally ended today with the Government adopting one of Labour’s most popular policies.The other point I want to make is that the City Rail Link symbolises the urban modern vision that Labour has for Auckland. Steven Joyce Gerry Brownlee and Nick Smith simply do not understand it. They do not get it. They are out of step with Auckland and that is why it has taken them 5 years to adopt what is an incredibly popular policy. This is a win for Labour it is a win for Mayor Len Brown and it is a win for Auckland.