Clarkson Bob: Land Transport Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Clarkson Bob: Land Transport Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:629;Page:1940] 
BOB CLARKSON (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 Mr Chairperson— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: This will be below the belt! 
BOB CLARKSON 
: No it will not be really. But since the member said that I would like to mention that I would rather be out building a jail on time and on budget. However we will get away from that. It was a pleasure to debate the bill with my colleagues in the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. It was good fun and maybe the issue should have been left there for us to sort out. It was plain to me that the select committee was trying to get a good result for the drivers of the vehicles and for the travelling public who are in their care. 
In speaking to clause 4 of the bill I am happy to say that the select committee was generally agreed on the provisions of that clause. It was hard to get a final cut-off point for the reinstatement of people who have lost their P endorsement. The select committee was keen to get a good result. Clause 4 has to give the existing people who lost their P endorsement the understanding that they are being dealt with in a fair way. The select committee agreed that those people can reapply for their licences in certain circumstances. We all agreed with that. 
I will quickly mention a person in my area—and everybody has a case like this—who had an indiscretion with a girl a few months younger than himself. He was 16 and she was 15. It was a minor offence 38 years ago. He has been driving taxis and now those same people have three children. Some people if they have not served time in jail should have a chance to continue to serve the public—as some have done blamelessly for years. 
Just to speak generally for a moment the difference between National and Labour on what has been put forward is that National would like to have an earlier cut-off point than Labour’s. National says that after any jail sentence one is history. The bill allows anybody with a 12-month jail sentence or less to reapply for his or her licence. I think that is too lenient. I think we have to be tough but we also have to be fair. 
For the future National says that new licence holders as from 16 January should be treated firmly. We say applicants with any convictions as listed on Supplementary Order Paper 17 in the name of David Bennett need not bother to apply for a licence. They are history; they will not get a licence. We need to protect the public. Our view is quite simple: if one does the time one does not get a licence. That is not a new thing in law. For example if one has a jail sentence for dealing in drugs one does not go overseas. That is very similar to this situation. Conviction and going to jail for drug offences set the rules on a person’s future travel. National says that doing the crime and doing the time should set the rules for driving a public vehicle. Someone like that should not drive a public vehicle full stop. 
National seeks to change this clause to make sure that if future licence applicants have done jail time they will not drive public vehicles.