Bennett David: Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBennett David: Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) — Second Reading[Sitting date: 11 March 2015. Volume:703;Page:2179. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): It is unusual that New Zealand First supports a bill in this House but I think it is the nature of this bill that the amendments are small short and something that New Zealand First can understand. It has actually decided to support it in this case. I noticed it did get Denis O’Rourke out to speak on it and we have the utmost respect for Denis O’Rourke. We do not know why he is not campaigning for leader. I do not know why Tracey Martin is not campaigning for leader. I do not know why Ron Mark is not campaigning for leader. Obviously they are waiting for their leader to crash and burn and then they are going to come out and say what a great person—Hon Todd McClay: We’ve got the 10-bridge policy; they’ve got the two-letterbox policy.DAVID BENNETT: He has got the two-letterbox policy but I will not go into that because if we did an Official Information Act request on that—as required we are talking about the Official Information Act requirements—I am sure Mr Denis O’Rourke would not like to see the results of the Official Information Act request on the two-letterbox approach. But he did mention the word “consistency”. Consistency from the New Zealand First Party—I would like to see that in its policy around transport.Today we also mentioned that when we look at the roads of national significance that is the biggest issue that there will be in the Northland election. Will the Wellsford to Pūhoi road go ahead? That is what the people up there are going to ask. I went on the campaigns with Denis O’Rourke because believe it or not Denis O’Rourke was the transport spokesperson for the New Zealand First Party at the last election. We had a number of debates that we went to together. Mr O’Rourke was very careful and very blunt in his assessment of the roads of national significance. He was very very blunt in saying that there is no way that the Pūhoi to Wellsford road would go ahead under New Zealand First.Denis O’Rourke: That is not true. Misrepresentation.DAVID BENNETT: It is not. It is the truth of the matter. We sat in the building just around the corner here and you said: “There is no way that that road is going to happen if New Zealand First had a chance.” That is the truth.Hon Ruth Dyson: Why don’t you tell the truth for a change?DAVID BENNETT: OK we have got some facts to support the truth. This is New Zealand First’s transport policy written by a Mr Winston Peters—written by Winston Peters. He wrote this. He does not often write much but he actually did write this. Let us go to page 2 of that policy. I will quote this for you: “We are calling for a thorough review of National’s bloated and hugely expensive ‘RONS’ programme which is massively extravagant given all the other areas of necessary spending that are being cut to fund it.” Do you want me to read that again? I will read that again for you. “We are calling for a thorough review of National’s bloated and hugely expensive”—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! We have strayed far enough. I ask the member to come back to the bill.DAVID BENNETT: If we have a look at Part 12 of the bill where we actually look at the Land Transport Act it has made these consequential amendments to the Land Transport Act. This is very important for the Land Transport Act because the Land Transport Act dictates what is actually spent. If we look at New Zealand First’s policy it will not spend money on roads of national—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Sit down thank you. We are going to continue with the debate on the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4). New Zealand First’s policy in relation to transport especially in the north has very little to do with that piece of legislation. I ask the member to continue.DAVID BENNETT: New Zealand First’s transport policy does not exist really and that was the whole point because Denis said he did not have one and he just wanted to set up the trains of national significance. That was those members’ position. But there was a train from Wanganui to Wellington that I am sure the Deputy Speaker would have been proud to see happen.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Do not bring me into it.DAVID BENNETT: The Land Transport Act 1998 is one of the Acts that this bill does incorporate.Hon David Parker: In what way?DAVID BENNETT: Well there are a number of ways. The first way is it makes a consequential amendment in regard to collecting blood specimens for blood-alcohol assessments. So I am sure the member over there would take great interest in that.Denis O’Rourke: What’s it got to do with Northland?DAVID BENNETT: What has it got to do with Northland? Well the thing is that New Zealand First does not have a transport policy and it does not believe in the roads of national significance. So just say you were on that road and you got pulled up for a blood-alcohol test. Under New Zealand First’s policy you would get pulled up on a one-lane road instead of a four-lane road. That is the difference.There are also changes in there consequential amendments in regard to the police and their powers around the Summary Proceedings Act and the Search and Surveillance Act—important things as well I am sure.Denis O’Rourke: Get the Prime Minister to nail it for you.DAVID BENNETT: Pardon? What was that?Denis O’Rourke: Get the Prime Minister to put a nail in it.DAVID BENNETT: Get the Prime Minister to put a nail in it. Oh that is the nail in the coffin of New Zealand First but we know that is coming very soon. The question is whether it is Tracey or Ron who is going to be putting the nail in Winston’s coffin but we will soon see.Hon Todd McClay: A stake through the heart.DAVID BENNETT: Yeah I am sure there will be.Jacinda Ardern: Does someone not have anything to say about this bill?DAVID BENNETT: No no these members need to listen and learn and they will understand. Another part of the Land Transport Act that is covered in this bill is in regard to the definition of “traffic offence”. That is the amended section 91A of the Land Transport Act covering offences under both the 1977 and 2012 Road User Charges Acts.Denis O’Rourke: Does it apply in Northland?DAVID BENNETT: Does it apply in Northland? Well that member keeps on bringing us back to Northland. What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to read out the quote again that says that the New Zealand First Party will not support roads of national significance? Am I supposed to do that? It obviously is not clear to that member who spent all of last year an election year bagging the roads of national significance. Now he is all for supporting them.If we look at another part of this bill that talks about land transport there is the removal of information on stationary vehicle infringement notices which needs to be included in reminder notices.Denis O’Rourke: Fascinating.DAVID BENNETT: That is another excellent part of this bill. Did you have something to say over there Mr O’Rourke? Yes I did not think so. Then there is the amendment to the Land Transport Management Amendment Act 2008 and that corrects the date on which Land Transport New Zealand Transit New Zealand and the office of the Director of Land Transport were dissolved. That is a minor part of the legislation of course but it is all part of what has to happen in—Denis O’Rourke: The whole speech is minor.DAVID BENNETT: Pardon?Denis O’Rourke: The whole speech is minor.DAVID BENNETT: The whole speech is minor. Well you know that member really should be quiet. That member who is here at the behest of one person in this Parliament and who has never won an electorate seat never will and never could is really here just clipping the ticket as most members of his party are and that is the danger of it. [Interruption] Now the Labour Party is having a go. They are all ticket clippers as well. I do not see any winners over there. Oh OK there are two in the front row but all the rest of them are ticket clippers. They have never won a seat and never will either. That is just the nature of the Labour Party [Interruption] Oh come on. Do not make it personal now eh. This is an important piece of legislation here. Those members have to resort to that. I know it is sad but that is the nature of the Labour Party at this stage.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I would really appreciate it if the member concentrated on addressing the bill in the last 2 minutes of his incredibly long 10 minutes. In spite of interjections from the Cantabrian referring to Northland which is most unusual I would ask the member to make his contribution salient to the bill the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4). Thank you.DAVID BENNETT: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. I am trying to but it is just that the continual barrage from the other side breaks through the legislation debate.Let us go to a different category. Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987—Stuart Nash: Oh amalgamation. That’s all you want to do.DAVID BENNETT: Amalgamation—that is the member over there. He loves amalgamation does he not? He will be amalgamating with the New Zealand First Party and the Green Party soon so it will be interesting to see how that works out will it not? That amendment clarifies that information held by a person engaged with a local authority as an independent contractor is deemed to be held by the local authority. That is another part of that piece of legislation that is important for us here tonight. There is clause 50 clarifying that information should be made progressively available. I think that it was the Official Information Act that the member for New Zealand First found a lot of need to discuss in great depth in this House.Simon O’Connor: Can they employ that in Northland?DAVID BENNETT: Yes well can they employ that in Northland? I would like to see an Official Information Act request on the New Zealand First transport policy in regards to the Pūhoi to Wellsford road and to see that it does not actually support that road.Denis O’Rourke: The member wouldn’t understand it.DAVID BENNETT: Oh the member will not understand it. Oh come on. See that is the thing with New Zealand First members. They just have to go that way. They are just not—