Bennett David: Land Transport Management Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: Land Transport Management Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 01 July 2008. Volume:648;Page:17068. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 When we look at the Land Transport Management Amendment Bill that is before us we see that it includes the regional petrol tax which is the part of the legislation that everybody has been focusing on. I will come back and focus on that as well but first I want to draw the attention of the Committee to another part of the bill which is to do with representation on regional transport committees. This legislation provides for a certain number of Government appointees to represent certain areas. I believe there are five such appointees to represent the areas mentioned in the  
New Zealand Transport Strategy 
 and there is to be formal representation on each transport committee to that effect. 
The problem with that is that if there is a full complement of appointees which would be the norm then there is the potential that in some regions the number of local government representatives may be fewer than the number of Government appointees on the regional committee. There would be the potential if say a busy mayor did not attend a meeting for the Government-appointed officials on the committee to be in the majority; the elected representatives from that region would not have a majority at that meeting. I believe that at the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee we had the numbers on the potential for that to happen. A number of committees represent areas that do not have a lot of territorial authorities within their region and this situation could potentially happen to them. So there is then a dilemma if a regional transport committee’s decision making is being made by appointees rather than by elected representatives. There would be a tremendous uproar in many areas if people knew that the decision makers were not their elected people but rather the appointees under certain requirements in the legislation. That could be a fish-hook that comes out in the future and it is something that the Committee needs to be aware of. 
The regional petrol taxes present an interesting dilemma. We have already touched on the fact that the regions are not being given the discretion to determine how to use that money. There is no discretion it is a mandatory apportionment—5c one way and 5c the other way. It is 5c for roading and 5c for public transport. A slight amendment was made to that at the select committee to bump up the 5c for roading and to take a little bit off the 5c for public transport in relation to things like walking and cycling but those components were minor. That defies the submissions we received from around the regions which wanted discretion. It was obvious that the regions wanted the ability to determine their own future and not to have a mandatory clause saying that it was a 5c-5c split. 
When we spoke to those regions we indicated that we would put forward an amendment to that effect. However it appears that we do not have the numbers for that amendment to go through. It will be interesting to see whether the New Zealand First Party will make a commitment when Peter Brown gets up to speak as to whether it is in favour of the 5c-5c split as in this legislation or whether it would give regions such as the Bay of Plenty which has asked for discretion in relation to the 10c. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Taranaki. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Yes and Taranaki and Waikato. New Zealand First indicated at the select committee that the discretion was of prime importance and it is now time for that party to stand up and deliver. If it does so then we may have the numbers to achieve that goal. 
Peter Brown 
: Have you got a Supplementary Order Paper in? 
DAVID BENNETT 
: We will if the member agrees to do it. 
Peter Brown 
: Oh it depends on us! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Yes it does in this case because the public needs New Zealand First to do what it says it will do at the select committee and not to come to this Chamber and change its mind as it normally does and just vote with the Government. That is the reality— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: We’re trying to be nice to him! 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Yes but to see some honesty from that party would be good in this case. 
Basically this legislation takes away the ability of regions to determine their own future. It is set up on the basis that we will have a mandatory 5c-5c split for regions. The history of that is that in Auckland there is a need for public transport and electrification was the big justification for this initial 5c—