Utikere TangiTANGI UTIKERE (Labour—Palmerston North): Meitaki maata Mr Speaker. I rise to take a call as Labour's transport spokesperson on the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill. The Minister in his contribution this afternoon has highlighted that the capacity for roadside drug-testing as a regime was introduced while Labour was in Government by way of the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Act 2022. And that is because it is important to ensure that we keep our roads safe and also ensure that police have the resources and are equipped in order to keep not just all road users but the public safe as well. And that's because road safety is an absolute commitment and we as a party are absolutely committed to reducing what is devastating harm for communities for whānau when we see certain things happen on our roads.So Labour is happy to support this bill through to select committee because it does build on that desire that Labour does have to ensure that our roading network is safe for all users and for the community as well. Up until this point the police have relied on a number of interim measures that many will be familiar with. They may include the stock-standard infringement offences which this bill does propose as a penalty regime as it stands currently but also criminal opportunity as well when it comes to the risk that impairment around driving brings with it—whether that's around alcohol or whether it's around some other prohibited substance. So this bill goes quite some way to address some of the concerns that the community does have in this space and around it.I do hope that this goes to the select committee and I know that the Transport and Infrastructure Committee will turn its mind to this. I note from the Minister's opening comments that his intention is to effectively commit this to a four-month period in front of select committee. I know that the select committee will be able to work within that but I do hope that it does provide ample opportunity for the community to feed into that process.I note that the Minister referred to some of the rights and freedoms. Now naturally a bill of this nature will give rise to some of those considerations when it comes to some form of detainment—whether it's a shorter period or slightly lengthier—but also some of the actions that are proposed in the bill which effectively would forbid someone to drive for a period of 12 hours and does provide some limitation on the free movement and rights of individuals. So I have no doubt that that's something that the select committee will be turning its mind to.This is a bill that effectively I think lands on the side of fairness as it's currently drafted at the moment. The committee will have a look a bit further around that but instead of allowing someone to continue to drive on our roads if there is a risk or any ounce that they might be impaired the safest thing to do would be to ensure that they are not putting the lives of other road users—and not just those on the road but those who are surrounding the road network—at risk. And so I'm sure we will have a look at that.My concern I guess is in the broader scheme of the ability of the Government of the day to be able to deliver on some of these road safety initiatives where there is effectively a reduction in the road safety space where today we hear about the counting of numbers of police. There are real limitations that are at play there. And so that will be something that I'm sure will be in the minds of certainly members on the select committee on this side of the House but others as well.We do support the proviso that the bill currently carries which would provide a medical defence. There will be people who are effectively using substances and are doing so under the direction of a medical practitioner and I see that in the bill there is a provision or proviso for that.So we will be supporting this through to select committee. I look forward to the select committee process. There will be many things that will turn our minds I'm sure. It is again in the vein of the former Labour Government having effectively committed to rolling this out and it's taken a wee while to get to this point but I'm pleased that it has.