King Annette: Public Transport Management Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
King Annette: Public Transport Management Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:18775] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 I move  
That the Public Transport Management Bill be now read a third time 
. This bill enables regional councils to require improvements to New Zealand’s public transport system. Regional councils will be empowered to impose greater controls over commercial non-contracted public transport services. The bill also provides a mechanism enabling regional councils to require that some or all public transport services be provided under contract. 
This bill does not tell regional councils how to run their transport systems; it simply gives them the tools to run them as effectively as possible. Regional councils will be able to set longer notice periods for commercial public transport providers in commencing varying and withdrawing services. This will allow providers more time to respond to changes and ensure the continued delivery of services to communities. 
Regional councils will have greater access to information such as detailed patronage statistics. This will enable more effective planning of public transport and the development of regional public transport plans. Where this information is commercially sensitive strict requirements will be in place to govern its release. The bill will also give regional councils greater monitoring powers to ensure that commercial services are meeting controls. Regional councils will be able to set quality and performance standards enable the integration of services ticketing and fares and where justified require the bundling of services. To ensure that any controls set by regional councils are justified the bill also includes an oversight mechanism to allow existing commercial public transport operators the right to appeal to the Environment Court. The role and process for the development of regional public transport plans has been improved and clarified. The New Zealand Transport Agency will be producing guidelines to assist regional councils with the new requirements for regional public transport plans. The bill defines the transport disadvantaged outlines clearly accessibility standards that may benefit them and recognises that accessibility issues go beyond simply the ability to get on to a bus or ferry. 
Finally the bill enables regional councils to require that some or all public transport services must be provided as contracted services. Councils will be able to discontinue commercial services and operate what will be known as a contracting regime. It will be up to each region to decide whether it adopts a contracting regime and already in New Zealand we have a range of contracting options carried out by local authorities. For example in the Tauranga area where Peter Brown lives there is a fully contracted model which allows those regional councils to use whichever tool they would find best for their region after putting in place a plan and consulting to get the best possible deal for passengers. 
I have to say that missing in this debate from the National Party was any mention of passengers. The whole debate from that party was about bus operators and I think that that shows the difference between the members and parties who support this bill and those who oppose it. This debate is about getting the best deal we can with ratepayers’ and taxpayers’ money for the passengers we want to see travelling on public transport. But what we heard from the National Party was a whole series of ideas—about the development of the bill deals made and a whole range of other fanciful things out of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee—cobbled together as National’s approach to this bill. There was almost more voting on mindless meaningless amendments from Maurice Williamson than there was debate on the bill. The public of New Zealand sat through hours of mindless voting in this Parliament—to make two or three changes to the title of something—in an effort to delay a bill that will advantage passengers. 
I say four-squarely—and I place it on the Table today—that we stand for the passengers of the public transport service. I know that operators will be getting a good deal from this Government because in the whole time that Maurice Williamson was the Minister of Transport he spent the grand total of no more than $40 million a year on public transport. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Five years. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Over the 5 years or whatever it was that he was the Minister of Transport he could not get himself out of the groove of putting money into roads and ignoring passenger transport. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Say something nice! 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I will say something nice about Maurice Williamson—I certainly will. I think that he speaks the truth about the National Party’s transport policy and when he tried to he was hushed up. He was taken out of the job and Bill English took it over for a couple of weeks until the party could trust Maurice again. 
I say in conclusion that this bill will have a significant effect on operators who have existing commercial services discontinued. Regional councils are required to consider a number of factors when adopting a contracting regime. A lot of safeguards are built into this legislation but the bottom line is that it will be good for the travelling public of New Zealand who want to use public transport services.