Brown Peter: Land Transport Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Brown Peter: Land Transport Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Towards the end of the week it is becoming a transport week; transport is becoming the flavour of the week. I can see Harry Duynhoven smiling over there. Last night the Minister made an announcement on new funding for infrastructure and today there is the Land Transport Amendment Bill. 
I turn to the announcement last night on funding. I have to say to my colleagues in United Future that if they want to put out press releases that attack the Rt Hon Winston Peters and me personally I would advise them to stick closer to the truth because we are a little bit tetchy over here at the moment. We will not respond in kind but those United Future members should stick to the truth. 
I return to this bill. I think much has been said about it and New Zealand First will not add a great deal more but I want to raise a few concerns we have and I think this bill will give us the opportunity to look at them more closely. 
The driver’s licence system concerns us and I see in the bill some areas that specifically address our concerns. I am hopeful that the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee will look at the concerns elderly drivers have. I have a letter here from a lady called Jean Jones that was written to my colleague Pita Paraone which he passed on to me for a response. She talks of her sister-in-law having to take a computer test for 2½ hours which cost $236. When she passed that she had to have a practical driving test with a police officer and a therapist for 1½ hours which cost $209. That lady had a history of a mild stroke some few months before but the testing system cost her $445. That is not the way to treat the elderly in this country. It is absolutely deplorable! I am hopeful that we can look at the driver’s licence system to address the concerns of elderly folk. It really does put stress on them. 
I am also keen as I heard the Hon Roger Sowry say to look at logbooks particularly at those for commercial operators. I have seen some logbooks with very very minor errors in them and I would suggest they are far more minor than errors that some of us who worked in those occupations made when we filled in our logbooks. [ 
Interruption 
] Paul Adams of course does not make any mistakes but with the exception of that member I would say we all made tiny errors. I have seen one driver’s logbook with a very minor error. To pick it up would have been very very hard yet the driver was fined hundreds of dollars. That is not on. Those guys are not academics; they are truck-drivers and this country is blessed with having some of the best truck-drivers in the world. They are very courteous and by and large they know exactly what they are doing. To be fined hundreds of dollars for a minor error in a logbook is not on so I am hopeful that we can have a look at those sorts of things. 
I am also keen—again members have raised this matter—that we look at the provisions for handling people who drive under the influence of alcohol and drugs. I would put some emphasis on the latter. I am not sure how the police pick up people who are under the influence of drugs but it is being reported informally to me that because we have an MP in this House who advocates drug smoking on an individual basis we are becoming very very liberal on the roads. 
Sue Kedgley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member is making incorrect statements in saying we have MPs who advocate drug smoking etc. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: That is not a point of order; it is a debating matter. 
PETER BROWN 
: It is a debating issue Mr Speaker and I thank you for correcting the member on that. I just want to tell her because she might have forgotten that not long ago a press release went out from her party advocating that people go to a park smoke cannabis then get in their cars and go home. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: What? That’s irresponsible. 
PETER BROWN 
: Yes it is irresponsible in the extreme. I hope we will take a good look at those sorts of concerns. 
I also hope we will take a good look at foreign drivers who drive in this country. That is an area that is becoming a major concern. New Zealand First is on the record as saying that if foreigners drive irresponsibly in this country then not only will they shorten their holiday or whatever reason they are here for but they will be on the first plane out of the country. I am not talking about minor offences which might be understandable I am talking about major offences where some people are doing quite serious antics on the road. New Zealand First is not in the business of allowing people to come to New Zealand and drive “any old how” while they carry on with their holidays. Our attitude is that if people commit an offence of serious proportions on our roads then out they should go. 
I am also hoping that the select committee will have an opportunity to look at how we police our roads. We have major concerns about some of the attitudes of the commercial vehicle police and how they handle truck-drivers. I have just referred to the logbook situation but for some months now New Zealand First has been undertaking a survey—for want of a better term—on road policing. In excess of 90 percent of people who have responded to the survey have told us they believe that the traffic police should be separated from the police. We will pursue that with some vigour. Traffic duties should be taken away from the police and a traffic unit itself should be set up under the umbrella of the Land Transport Safety Authority. The public perception of police officers has gone down quite a lot because those officers are seen as revenue gatherers so I hope the select committee will have a good look at how we police the transport system in this country. Our view is that it could be done so much better if the traffic police were under the jurisdiction of the Land Transport Safety Authority and the police force itself was left to get on with the job of handling criminals. 
I have said all I need to say on this bill. New Zealand First will support it going to the select committee.