Brown Peter: Public Transport Management Bill — In Committee 
Brown Peter: Public Transport Management Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:650;Page:18660] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 When the bill first emerged at its first reading it identified three options: A B and C. Option A is the status quo and option C is the fully contracted model. But the Government bill in its explanatory note was very damning of option C. There was a paragraph or more that really made it quite clear this was not an option the Government favoured—it was very very damning—and option B was the option it favoured. New Zealand First has always supported option B but when we got to select committee and the submissions came in particularly from the industry players we found out that there were two option Bs: option B as in the bill and option B as was apparently agreed or understood in the earlier discussions the industry had with officials. It was the first option B—the one that did not make the bill—that the bus companies in particular favoured and that rested comfortably with New Zealand First. That has been our position from the word go. We have not changed our mind. We have not been bullied into thinking something else and we are now in a position where we favour the option B that was agreed between the players and the officials before it came into the bill as against option C which the Government is supporting because of the Greens and about which the Government in the explanatory note wrote very very damning comments. I do not think I have ever seen an option or an alternative written up in such a derogatory manner. It was effectively dismissed by that bill. By reading the explanatory note no one would have ever thought the Government would ultimately be supporting it. So if there is any change in this House it is from the Government. It is going with the Greens the Maori Party and ACT. 
John Hayes 
: And New Zealand First. 
PETER BROWN 
: Wake up man! Wake up! Members should listen to him. Members should give him a pinch. He is not quite awake. He should take a Berocca. The Greens the Maori Party and ACT were not represented on the select committee. Members of those parties did not even take the trouble to go along and listen to what people had to say. They just dreamt up a Supplementary Order Paper that fits with the Government’s change of heart and quite clearly that Supplementary Order Paper will get through the House thanks to 10 or 12 MPs who have not studied it in the least— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Or heard the submissions. 
PETER BROWN 
: —or heard the submissions or in all probability spoken to anyone in any detailed form. In the course of these submissions a number of submitters were very enthusiastic about their industry—very enthusiastic. They felt passionate about it. If this bill goes through with option C as it appears it will we will dampen that passion that enthusiasm and that determination to do right by administering bus companies and buses. We will destroy it. A successful bus service needs four qualities. It has to be reliable convenient comfortable and affordable. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: And it has to be safe. 
PETER BROWN 
: And it has to be safe—five qualities. If a bus service does not have all those five qualities then people will not use it. It has nothing to do with the colour of the buses or whether they are administered or centrally controlled by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority. It has everything to do with the service that is offered. As I say those are the five qualities that a bus service needs. If we dampened the enthusiasm determination and competence of the bus companies we would be in danger of second-rate or less than adequate buses being put in that the public will not use. That disturbs us. We believe that if there are enthusiastic participants then they should be given a chance to develop that enthusiasm. That is a very simple philosophy.