Brown Peter: Land Transport Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Brown Peter: Land Transport Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21374] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Let me first apologise to those people who have just tuned into their radio at 2 o’clock—expecting Parliament to be sitting—to hear the Rt Hon Winston Peters take on the Government again and embarrass it even further. Unfortunately that will not happen. The Government has given up the ghost. It has put the House into urgency. So the Rt Hon Winston Peters has been denied his opportunity to ask this Government some penetrating questions. 
We are debating the third reading of the Land Transport Amendment Bill and it is a bill that New Zealand First supports. That is not to say that the Government’s bill is 100 percent correct but it is pretty close. 
Darren Hughes 
: 99 percent? 
PETER BROWN 
: Maybe not 99 percent but pretty close. There are three aspects of this bill that I would like to touch on. The first is the simplified logbook regime for commercial truck-drivers. It is long awaited and long overdue. Truck-drivers are not the brains of New Zealand and in saying that I am not putting them down. They are average guys who drive trucks for a living and by and large drive them very very well. But I have seen some entries in logbooks that have allegedly resulted in drivers being charged with a crime. The one that comes to mind is a truck-driver who signed off at Wanganui one evening and said that he had off-loaded his truck at the depot at Wanganui. The following morning at 6 o’clock or half-past 6 he signed on again at the depot “loading” but he did not put “Wanganui”. Apparently he was fined in excess of $300 and suspended for a period of time. He was a family man with a couple of children and but for the goodness of his employer he would have lost quite a lot of money. That sort of regime seems ludicrous to New Zealand First. So we are very very pleased that this Land Transport Amendment Bill simplifies the logbook regime for truck-drivers. It is easier for them to fill in the details and easier for the police to identify any problems. 
This country depends on trucking. Frankly we do not have enough trucks. When the logging comes back on stream as it will in a year or so we will be in dire need of more truck-drivers; if not by the thousands certainly by the hundreds. They are the backbone of society. There is not much that we purchase from retail stores that is not delivered by truck. Indeed much of the cargo that comes and goes through our ports is handled by trucks. Some people say: “Put it on the rail.” but railways are not as flexible as trucking when it comes to small parcels of cargo. Rail is OK and is very good when moving goods from depot to depot but when it comes to small parcels and small container loads—two or three containers or two or three truckloads—trucks are in their element. 
New Zealand is a nation of small exporters as well as large exporters and trucks have a role to play. Trucking people are entitled to a straightforward regime and in our view this simplified logbook will achieve that. I only hope the commercial vehicle inspection unit of the police takes on board what is being done today and adopts a more cooperative attitude with the trucking people than it has done in the past. 
The second area of concern is the contentious issue of passenger endorsements on licences for taxi drivers and bus drivers. New Zealand First totally supports the concept that a person who is guilty of murder or other serious crimes as listed in the bill should not be driving a taxi or a bus. We absolutely support the notion that people who have that sort of past should be prohibited from driving taxis or buses. But somewhat regrettably several hundred of our taxi-drivers—if we believe the figures given to us—are guilty of some sort of heinous crime. At one point the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee simply wanted to say “out” meaning “out out” with those people. But in its wisdom the Government has listened and said that although it is not prepared to accept those people if they have an established track record of driving competently and have caused no problems to the public the bill provides the right of an appeal for some of them—not people who have been guilty of murder rape or sexual offences—but none the less those who have been guilty of some serious offences. 
The Supplementary Order Paper that accompanies this bill provides a means for reinstatement of passenger endorsement for people who have not reoffended in the last 10 years so have a clean record for that period. Some of them might well have been rehabilitated to such a degree that they own the taxicab or own the business. It would be most unfair to say that we are prohibiting them from driving forever without any right of appeal. This bill stops them from driving but it gives them the right of appeal to the Director of Land Transport or subsequently to the High Court. 
New Zealand First prides itself on being the law and order party in this Parliament. We would if we were honest want those people totally excluded from driving taxis or buses. But if we want law and order in the country we have to have justice and justice is dependent on giving everyone a fair hearing. As much as I dislike defending the right of people who are guilty of some awful crimes to have a fair hearing if we want law and order we must have justice. Those people are entitled to a hearing and a legitimate hearing at that. So New Zealand First supports the Supplementary Order Paper just as it supports the bill. 
Our third concern is courtesy vans operated by clubs. I am quite relieved after talking to the Minister and his officials and hearing the Minister’s comments in the House that the Government is taking an objective view on this issue. I am told there are 350 licensed clubs in this country with 220000 voting members. The clubs probably have other associated members who cannot vote. It is common practice for the clubs to run a courtesy bus although it is illegal for them to charge a fee. They are meant to seek donations but currently many of them charge a fee. Frankly the Parliament must face up to the reality of what is happening in the outside world. I am told by the Minister and his officials that because this bill will not come into force until January next year there is a time frame available. I was encouraged by the Minister’s comments that the Government would be listening to submissions from those clubs or people associated with those clubs in a very positive manner and that he was hopeful of addressing the concern under what he termed “operating licence rules”. I think I have that correct. This is a good bill and 90 percent correct— 
Darren Hughes 
: 99 percent— 
PETER BROWN 
: That 99 percent must be a record for this Government. So New Zealand First supports the passage of this bill.