Shearer David: Infrastructure Bill — In Committee 
Shearer David: Infrastructure Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12511] 
DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert) 
: 
 I will take a quick call on Part 2 of the Infrastructure Bill which we are discussing tonight. Part 2 as others have said amends a number of different Acts and makes those Acts able to coordinate in a much more consistent way so that our infrastructure can move forward and develop much more effectively. The bill amends the Telecommunications Act 2001 the Electricity Act 1992 the Gas Act 1992 and the Local Government Act 1974. The idea is to try to provide some consistency around reasonable access to the corridors and the allocation of costs when utility operators are required to move assets. It will also address the time notification and response that those operators will need to provide to make their operations much smoother and more coordinated. 
I think we have all been in the situation—and I know many definitely have been in the Auckland area—where we have seen roads dug up and inadequately put back together again by for example various utility operators This bill will enable us to ensure that we are well notified about disruptions that work goes ahead in full coordination with many of the other operators as well and that we have the minimum amount of disruption particularly in the Auckland environment where there is so much pressure on roads and so much pressure on the ability of services as Auckland expands. Auckland is expanding at the rate of one Wellington city every 8 years. It is an extraordinarily quick and fast expansion. I think this bill will address many of the arising from Auckland’s expansion to be more effective and more efficient. There is another example that this part speaks to. Contractors who were laying pipes in Auckland City found that they had different dimensions when they went out to connect up with pipes from Waitakere City. This legislation will be helped by the fact that Waitakere City and Auckland City will be one super-city and certainly I hope that some of those things will be remedied. This bill will go a long way to try to restore some of those efficiencies we need. 
It is worth mentioning as others have that work on this bill started in 2007. It has been quite a long time coming—more than 3 years. It was started under the previous Labour Government which recognised the need for this legislation and began working on it. Given the fact that this Government has made so much of the need for improved more efficient and more effective infrastructure it is surprising that here we are 2 years into this Government’s term and only now are we in the Committee of the whole House stage of this legislation. As I said the work began under the previous Labour Government. Utility operators such as electricity telecommunications sewerage drains and gas say that there has been an inconsistent application of reasonable conditions when seeking to exercise their right to access roads in particular because that is where most of our services tend to run. On the local authorities’ side they are concerned and I am sure are under pressure from residents and ratepayers about the poor quality of reinstatement of roads by utility operators. There is also concern about the inconsistencies between statutes. Therefore some operators are able to afford some advantages over others. This legislation particularly Part 2 will go a long way in terms of ensuring that all of those utility operators are operating under a standard format. Thank you.