Twyford Phil: Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Twyford Phil: Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4582. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatu) 
: 
 Back on 24 May I listened to the Prime Minister say this in the Budget debate: “In the end” he said “when you spend more money than you earn it is called Greece and you go broke.” Since then we have had a number of statements in this House by National Government Ministers who have used the example of Greece. They have basically said that if we do not sell the assets we are going to end up like Greece and if we do not follow the National Party’s economic prescription we are going to end up like Greece. 
This got me thinking because I have been wondering in recent months what economic model the Government is following with regard to transport where it has proceeded to spend billions and billions of dollars of New Zealand’s taxes on a series of white elephant motorway projects without providing a shred of evidence that they will promote economic growth. So I went back and did some reading about Greece and the countries of southern Europe that have been so badly affected by the global financial crisis. I found some really interesting information which I want to share with the House. What I learnt about Greece was that in the years leading up to the Greek financial meltdown Greece invested €20 billion on motorways between 1994 and 2004. Greece unleashed the biggest motorway building programme that Europe has ever seen—€20 billion. Unbelievable. What is more—and this is really interesting for the members on the National side of the House in light of the fact that this Government wants to start borrowing to fund the roads of national significance—what is really interesting is that between 1991 and 2005 Greece borrowed €4.7 billion to fund this extraordinary motorway building binge up and down Greece. It is incredible. It is amazing. 
I also found when I began to look into the Greek model of economic development that it had a 10-point plan— 
Dr David Clark 
: Oh a 10-point plan—sounds familiar. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: That rings bells. That rings bells. Greece was cutting Public Service jobs it privatised the national railway and it established a superministry. It is becoming very clear. The more we look into the Greek economic model the more— 
Moana Mackey 
: Uncanny. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: —it bears an uncanny resemblance to the economic development model that we have seen coming from this National Government. It has all become clear. I bring this information to the House tonight in the interests of illuminating the debate and explaining to New Zealanders that there is in fact method to Steven Joyce Bill English and John Key’s madness. It is not just a random collection of 10-point plans and glossy booklets; there is actually a plan and it is the Greek economic model. We can see it coming through most clearly with regard to this Government’s transport policy. I have to ask whether or not it is any coincidence that the former Minister of Transport Steven Joyce was known in this House as the “Colossus of Roads”. 
Moana Mackey 
: OK now it’s just spooky. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: It is very spooky. It is deeply unnerving and deeply unsettling. We know that this Government is not following the Finnish model. It has made it very clear that it does not like the Finnish model. It does not believe in it. I have been wondering in recent days whether in fact it has been following the Muldoon model with the roads of national significance because this group of mega-projects costing billions and billions of dollars has been hand-picked by the National Government. It has thrown billions and billions of dollars of taxes behind these projects. The projects have very dubious economic significance and now we find out that this National Government wants to borrow to fund these projects. 
Clare Curran 
: It’s all Greek to me. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: Well this is very reminiscent of the Think Big projects of the 1980s. The Government wants to saddle future generations of New Zealanders with the costs of these ill-advised hand-picked infrastructure projects. It is absolute madness. But the Government says that no it is not Muldoonist and it is not Think Big. What we can say today based on my extensive research is that it is the Greek economic model that underlies this Government’s transport policy. Borrowing billions and billions of dollars and pouring them into these white elephant motorway projects— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. The time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: Before I was so rudely interrupted by the dinner break I was explaining to the House that extensive research has revealed that the National Government’s transport policy has in fact been inspired by the Greek economic model. Greece is the gold medal motorway builder of Europe. It has blown tens of billions of euros much of it borrowed on a massive motorway building binge in the decade leading up to its financial meltdown. And its policy bears an uncanny resemblance to the roads of national significance policy. 
Moana Mackey 
: Do they employ Crosby/Textor? 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: I think the Greeks do employ Crosby/Textor as their contract propagandists. What are the distinguishing features of this Government’s transport policy? Undoubtedly the roads of national significance are the defining feature of this Government’s policy. By the time this Government leaves office at the end of 2014 it will leave our country a legacy of a number of giant concrete white elephant projects that are of very low economic value by the Government’s own figures. Some of these projects these seven roads of national significance were given the green light by the then Minister of Transport Steven Joyce before the most rudimentary economic assessment had been done of their worth as major infrastructure projects. 
The roads of national significance have become a synonym for wasteful spending and out-of-control unaccountable transport spending. Last week it was revealed by Radio New Zealand that this Government has spent in the last couple of years $8 million on public relations consultants— 
Moana Mackey 
: How much? 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: —$8 million—to try to sell the roads of national significance to an increasingly sceptical public. On top of that it was also recently revealed that $216 million was spent on investigation and design for five of the seven motorway projects. Some of these projects will not be built for years—for decades probably. 
Moana Mackey 
: They can’t pay for our rail line. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: Yes that is right. The Government is closing down parts of the railway network. It is cutting spending on new public transport projects. It is flatlining the spending on the maintenance of local roads. Every member in this House particularly the member for Invercargill will know that the neglect of local roads is a major issue that has made provincial New Zealand very angry and very resentful about this Government’s policy. 
If it was not bad enough that the roads of national significance are simply in many cases a waste of money—these projects do not stack up—they have also had the effect of squeezing out most other categories of transport spending such as as I have said local roads. The New Zealand Transport Agency said last week that it is facing a $160 million shortfall for the maintenance of State highways. That is new information that has just come to light. It has a $160 million shortfall for looking after maintaining and renewing our State highways. That is another consequence of this Government’s policy of putting all of the transport eggs into the basket of the roads of national significance. 
At the same time we are seeing KiwiRail being set up to fail. There is an unrealistic KiwiRail Turnaround Plan which bizarrely requires KiwiRail to find $3.8 billion from its own balance sheet to invest in capital expenditure. That is totally unrealistic and that is what is driving a series of almost inexplicable decisions by KiwiRail the most recent of which is laying off 181 track workers. They are the very people who are needed to improve the state of KiwiRail’s network so that KiwiRail can compete with long-haul trucking. The worse the state the tracks are in the slower the trains go and the less KiwiRail can compete. What is this Government doing? It is forcing KiwiRail to lay off 181 workers who maintain the track. It is ridiculous. 
We recently found out that KiwiRail purchased 7000 Peruvian rail sleepers which are rotting on the tracks. That is an example of poor el cheapo procurement policies. Again we lay that at the door of this Government’s unrealistic KiwiRail Turnaround Plan. Following the Greek model has not served this Government’s transport policy well at all. It is unbalanced it is all about roads and it is time for a change.