Salesa Jenny; Halbert Shanan; Penk Chris; Luxton JoLAND TRANSPORT (ROAD SAFETY) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Is there an honourable member that would move this bill?SHANAN HALBERT (Junior Whip—Labour): Point of order Madam Speaker. We're just locating the Minister's speech for this one. My apologies to hold up the House.CHRIS PENK (Senior Whip—National): Speaking to the point of order I move that the question be now put.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Let me seek advice from the Clerk. We'll just take a pause for a moment. One of the Clerks is coming in to give me advice right now. Is there an honourable member that will move this bill?Hon JO LUXTON (Minister of Customs) on behalf of the Associate Minister of Transport: I move that the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill be read a first time. Hon Paul Goldsmith: It's the second reading; so that's completely wrong as well.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The words have to be precise Minister.Tim van de Molen: Point of order. Thank you Madam Speaker. Clearly we're in a situation where the Government is not prepared to continue business and on that basis surely the House must stand adjourned for the rest of this extended sitting and then recommence at 2 p.m. for the conduct of normal business.Hon JO LUXTON: Madam Speaker I move that the Land Transport—Tim van de Molen: Point of order! I had a point of order Madam Speaker. I just made a point of order suggesting that surely the House must be adjourned and I'm interested in your insight on that.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The advice that I was being given by the Clerk is that I give one more opportunity for the bill to be moved.Hon JO LUXTON: I move that the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill be read a second time—I present a legislative statement on the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill and I move that the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Would the Minister like to speak to the motion of the bill?Hon JO LUXTON: Yes. I move That the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): So would you like to make a speech on the bill?Hon JO LUXTON: Yes Madam Speaker. This bill is part of this Government's commitment to stamp out dangerous and reckless behaviour on New Zealand's roads and in turn reduce deaths and serious injuries.This bill aims to reduce unsafe behaviour on Aotearoa New Zealand roads and we are tackling this in two ways: firstly by enabling police to respond more swiftly and effectively to fleeing drivers whose behaviour poses a serious threat to road safety; secondly by enabling the use of technologies to identify and automatically issue infringement notices for transport offences including a pointtopoint average-speed camera system. We sent a message to dangerous and intimidating drivers earlier this year through the Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Bill. The message is the same for drivers who fail to stop for police: this behaviour is unacceptable and could result in you losing your vehicle.Fleeing drivers undermine the safety of our roads and represent a significant danger not only for our police officers and the people in a fleeing vehicle but for innocent road users who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. After 63 fleeing-driver - related deaths between 2010 and 2020 police changed their pursuit policy to place more emphasis on post-event investigations. While this succeeded at reducing deaths and serious injuries it also contributed to an increase in fleeing-driver events. There were 9765 events last year up from 6757 the year before and since December 2020 only 34 percent of fleeing drivers have been identified by police partly due to insufficient consequences for the vehicle's owners when they don't provide police with information about a fleeing driver. The tougher consequences for fleeing drivers in this bill are intended to deter people from failing to stop for the red and blue lights. However if drivers do choose to flee from police the legislative tools introduced by the bill will assist police to identify them and hold them to account. The bill will complement a revised police fleeing-driver policy which came into effect in late May this year and together the two will strike a balance between improved road safety outcomes and proper punishment for those who break the law and endanger others.This omnibus bill amends the Land Transport Act 1998 and the Sentencing Act 2002 with consequential amendments to the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 the Privacy Act 2020 and relevant land transport rules and regulations. It will also enable police to seize and empower the vehicle for six months an increase from the current 28 days if the police officer believes on reasonable grounds that the person driving the vehicle has failed to stop or remain stopped when signalled. It also creates a new power for police to seize and impound a vehicle for 28 days if the vehicle's registered owner fails to provide information or misleads police about the fleeing driver. This will assist police to identify the driver improving the current low identification rate.The bill increases the period of driver licence disqualification after a second conviction for a failing-to-stop offence from one year to a range of between one and two years—a sentence which will be handed out at the courts' discretion.And lastly a new sentencing option will be created enabling the courts to order that a vehicle be forfeited on conviction for a failing-to-stop offence. In these cases not only will the offender lose their car permanently but they will also lose out on the proceeds from its sale. There is evidence that penalties which emphasise loss such as a loss of licence or a vehicle are more likely to influence behaviour than monetary penalties. They also reduce opportunities for reoffending.As well as increasing the consequences for fleeing drivers the bill also enables the use of technology to both increase the speed of enforcement and to widen the ability to detect offences as they occur. The bill will allow enforcement agencies to make use of emerging technologies including point-to-point cameras. Point-to-point cameras calculate the average speed travelled over a distance between two points and have a proven track record overseas at reducing road deaths and serious injuries. The new camera network will play an important role in the Government's Road to Zero strategy; simply put it will help to save lives. We are also introducing electronic servicing and automated issuing of infringement notices. These changes will modernise our transport regulatory system through better use of technology. They will help ensure that important and time-sensitive infringement notices including for speeding offences or revoking of licences on medical grounds are finding their way to the right person in the right place at the right time.This bill has now been considered by the Justice Committee. Thank you to the committee for their thorough and considered approach particularly given their extensive work programme and thank you also to the 33 organisations and individuals who submitted on this bill. The diverse range of expertise shared by these submitters has been integral to getting the bill to this stage today. I'm going to highlight some key changes: the commencement date of the bill has been extended to six weeks following Royal assent and this will allow Police and Waka Kotahi time for the necessary implementation activities to ensure the new systems are as intended: quick accurate and secure.In some cases an impounded vehicle will be under a finance arrangement and the registered person may default on their payments during the six-month period resulting in the car being repossessed by a creditor. The bill now enables a finance company to have a repossessed vehicle released from impoundment without being liable for any towage or storage fees. The robustness of the automated infringement system has been improved by separating responsibility for approving and for maintaining the system. The Minister of Transport will now be responsible for approving the system while the ongoing quality assurance and audit processes will sit with the enforcement authority. For the new point-to-point camera system it is now clear in the legislation that the road-controlling authority must both install and maintain signage for each point-to-point camera on the network. The intent behind this is that a warning sign will encourage drivers to be aware of and reduce their speed. Providing the sign has been appropriately installed and maintained a driver will still be liable for an infringement notice if the sign is not present or visible at the time at infringement. The safety camera network is designed to improve road safety outcomes not to fill the coffers; however if a driver chooses to speed through a point-to-point camera road corridor they can expect to pay and we hope it's from their wallet and not with their life.To further support the transfer of the safety camera network from Police to Waka Kotahi the bill will amend the Privacy Act 2020 to enable the transport offence information to be shared between the two organisations as well as the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Services Commissioner. This is an extension of the current system and will ensure a continuity of roadside police activities. This bill is another milestone in this Government's plan to make New Zealand's roads safer. Again I thank the Justice Committee and those who submitted for your valuable input. I would also like to recognise the collaboration that went into this mahi between both the transport and justice ministries Police and Waka Kotahi. One person killed or injured by a fleeing or speeding driver is one too many. This bill sends a clear message that these dangerous and harmful behaviours will not be tolerated on our roads. To that point I commend the bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to.