Hereora Dave: Road Traffic Reduction Bill — Second Reading 
Hereora Dave: Road Traffic Reduction Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:615;Page:11153] 
DAVE HEREORA (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to make a contribution in the debate and in doing so I will comment on the previous member’s contribution. His speech said nothing whatsoever about vision and where we are going and that is simply because the Opposition has no real policy to stand on. We heard from Maurice Williamson earlier. I learnt that he had a 6-year term as Minister over a 9-year tenure of the National Government in the 1990s. The National Government did absolutely zilch to contribute to fixing the problems that we have with transport today. This Labour-led Government will fix it. We are in the process of doing that and we have been opening roads in the Auckland area. The plaques have Labour across them. There are no plaques stating that National is opening roads. Not one road in the Auckland area has a plaque stating that National is opening that road. That just goes to show that in the absence of real policy this Labour-led Government will have to fix the problem. 
I want to revisit the purpose of the bill. The bill aims to get transport decision makers to consider traffic demand management as well as the supply of transport infrastructure. The bill requires the Minister of Transport and regional councils to develop targets timetables and measures for the reduction of motorised road traffic. This is intended to result in an increase in support for public transport walking and cycling at the expense of major road projects. I would like to acknowledge members of the Green Party particularly Jeanette Fitzsimons the sponsor of the bill— 
Hon Member 
: Why? 
DAVE HEREORA 
: She has vision—simply because they were putting up alternative methods of transport. It is only right that we give her that acknowledgment. I felt a bit offended when Peter Brown suggested that the Greens spokesperson on transport required a driver’s licence before he could hold that portfolio. I thought to myself: “Well if that is the case Mr Brown do you also have to have a driver’s licence to get married?”. Where did that criterion come from? We all know as my colleague Lynne Pillay suggested that the member loves motorcars. I understand he has two. But to undermine my Green colleague Mike Ward in relation to his holding that portfolio and to suggest that he should have a driver’s licence is I think unacceptable. However in saying that I would like to mihi Jeanette Fitzsimons for her contribution and for putting up a bill that has led to the opportunities we have. 
Road traffic congestion was seen as a serious problem. Some people believe that by legislating to remove private motorcars from busy roads the problem could be fixed. We see things slightly differently. Encouraging users of transport to use more effective and better modes of transport by assisting in the development of better networks and infrastructure such as bus and rail would have a better outcome. The Government has had some key achievements. Released in December 2002 its strategy aims to ensure that transport can contribute to the Government’s objective to return New Zealand’s per capita income to the top half of the OECD. I was reading through a magazine and I would like to share this point with colleagues in the House: “A Transfund New Zealand review of transport projects over $20 billion has confirmed all six projects remain in the 2003-04 national land transport programme. However some will require conditions to be met before they can be considered for funding. The six projects being promoted by Transit New Zealand are: the Mangatawhiri deviation in the Waikato Hewletts Road flyover in Tauranga the inner-city bypass in Wellington the SH20 Mount Roskill extension in Auckland North Shore busway in Auckland and the Esmond Road interchange in Auckland.” Those are just some examples of this Government’s initiatives in moving to deal with the traffic congestion problem. 
The New Zealand Transport Strategy represents a fundamental change in the way we deal with transport in New Zealand. This is the first time that all modes of transport—road rail sea and air—will be looked at in an integrated and long-term way. To this end we have five main objectives: to assist economic development to assist safety and personal security to improve access and mobility to protect and promote public health and to ensure environmental sustainability. To that end the investment for growth is building a world-class infrastructure as a key element of the Government’s growth and innovation framework. A growing economy and population require increased investment and this transport package is an important investment in New Zealand’s economic infrastructure. It strikes a balance between the need for a catch-up for Auckland and the need for the rest of the country to develop further its own infrastructure. 
The package at a glance is a new investment of an average of $297 million per year for land transport initiatives. That is putting one’s money where one’s mouth is—almost $3 billion over 10 years and I think that that investment will surely look towards the congestion problem. All revenue from the increased fuel excise levy will be used to fund land transport initiatives and the revenue will be distributed regionally on a population basis so that every region—I repeat every region—will get an increase in funding for land transport initiatives. Local bodies will be allowed to borrow and toll and a new non-political body will manage Auckland’s land transport needs. 
Also the Patronage Funding Scheme is an initiative that was taken on board and the community is buying into it. Since 2000 the number of journeys taken on passenger transport has increased by 24.9 percent. It has actually increased. I think that is positive. I think it is good. It helps with the congestion problem. In that time we have seen some major regional passenger transport initiatives thanks to the financial contributions of councils and Transfund. We heard earlier that Transfund had a pocket of money just sitting there. Well I can say to that member that Transfund is contributing as well as the councils. As a result of the success of the scheme central government funding for passenger transport has also doubled. [ 
Interruption 
] I do not think members opposite want to hear that but it has. I can see that they do not want to hear it but I will tell them anyway. It has doubled from $36.3 million in 1998-99 to $71.2 million in the year 2002-03. I know that those members did not want to hear that. When the Patronage Funding Scheme was introduced in November 2000 Transfund said that it would review it in 2003. The current scheme would continue until June 2004 to allow time for that review to be completed. 
In winding up I shall talk about one of the initiatives that the Green Party members had looked at and that was to encourage walking and cycling as alternative modes of transport. I did hear earlier that National members acknowledged that that was a positive alternative. Albeit positive they felt that it was not enough to deal with the problem. In relation to the walking bus in the Wellington area before Christmas I walked with schoolchildren to school. It reminded me of my old school days when we had to walk to school as well. We walked from the Hairini bypass through the Waimapu estuary to get to school and back. The memories that walk brought back were quite cheerful because I recall to this day that every time we walked home and the tide was out it was guaranteed that we would be eating eels for tea that night. It was a good alternative practice. I acknowledge the Green members for their initiative to introduce such a scheme. I recall at the time that people were not heeding it. However it is working not only to help our traffic congestion but also in a healthy way for the public.