8. Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) Link to this
to the Minister of Transport
Is he concerned that the Auckland transport infrastructure will not cope with the demands put on it by the Rugby World Cup in 2011; if so, what special initiatives does he plan to implement?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Acting Minister of Transport) Link to this
No, I am not concerned, because the Government is investing heavily in Auckland’s transport system, and by one measure at a rate 10 times faster than when the member himself was the Minister of Transport.
Hon Maurice Williamson Link to this
Is the Minister aware that if we can return to the optimistic August update, which included the $500 million upgrade—a point we are still not at—that will mean that in Auckland, during 2011, the Manukau Harbour Bridge extension project will be halfway through, the Avondale extension of State Highway 20 will have just started, the Auckland Harbour Bridge to city completion project will be about one-third of the way through, and we will be around halfway through the upgrading of the Newmarket viaduct, and does the member from Dunedin have any idea what that will mean for Auckland motorists in 2011?
I am sure that Transit, working with other organisations in Auckland, will manage issues around construction zones, as it did, for example, during other big events in Auckland such as the Lions tour and for the occasional visit and large conference, and so on. The point of the story is that we will have to stop work on very, very many projects, because we will have work under way on so many, many projects.
Hon Maurice Williamson Link to this
Has the Minister read the Treasury briefing note to the Minister of Finance dated 28 June 2005, which states “A recent internal Treasury project examines the question of whether, from a national welfare perspective, expenditure on roads is sufficient.”, and concludes by stating that although Transfund is using a cost-benefit analysis, and that it may be sound, it suggests that substantial road infrastructure under-investment is occurring and that New Zealand seems to be passing up road investments that would earn a very high return, and is he concerned that that is Treasury’s view of this Government’s level of investment?
Since the date of the Treasury paper to which the member refers, the Government has increased investment. I urge the Opposition to try even harder to keep abreast of this fast-moving Government.
Taito Phillip Field Link to this
Can the Minister inform the House as to what key projects will be completed before the Rugby World Cup gets under way in 2011?
If I restrict myself to the major ones, I am sure I will get through the list before being sat down. It includes State Highway 18 Greenhithe deviation, State Highway 18 Upper Harbour Bridge duplication, State Highway 20 Mount Roskill extension, State Highway 1 northern busway, State Highway 1 all phases central motorway junction upgrade, continued double tracking of the western line, continued upgrade of a number of stations, a number of auxiliary lanes on a number of highways, and on and on it goes.
Rt Hon Winston Peters Link to this
Has the Minister received any reports as to how far ahead in our state of infrastructural roading preparedness we would have been had Mr Williamson, as Minister of Transport, not opposed a 1995 bill to divert money from roading taxes towards roading, or, in 1999, not supported the repeal of the prior year’s budgetary provision to put more money into roading; how far further down the track would we have been without those actions from the previous National Government?
I have no reports on the specific matter the member raises but I do know that the quantum of money is sufficient that the distance would have been very substantial indeed.
Heather RoyIs progress on State Highway 20 through Auckland painfully slow because, while overgrown construction in the Mount Roskill electorate is fine with the Prime Minister, she demands that a billion-dollar tunnel be built to accommodate the highway through her electorate?
No—and what is more, the Mount Roskill extension, which is the bit that is being built now, is a little ahead of schedule.
Hon Maurice Williamson Link to this
Why does the Minister continue to repeat the incorrect mantra that the Government is spending 10 times as much as the previous National Government on Auckland’s roads when in fact his own numbers, given by way of written answer, which he will be able to check, show that in the last year of the previous National Government $134 million was being spent on new roading in Auckland, and that that figure dropped—as the graph I have will show the Minister—under the first few years of the Labour Government and has got back to around the $200-million mark only now, which is nowhere near 10 times, and in fact after correcting for inflation has hardly increased at all?
The member deludes himself. The criterion I referred to when I cited one measure in my answer to the primary question is simply a measure of all major projects. We are not talking about puddles and footpaths; we are talking about major projects. Spending on all major projects under way or recently completed is now worth $1.3 billion, and when we came to Government the figure was 10 percent of that. That is the fact of the matter, and the member has to wear it because his Government was hopeless.
Hon Maurice Williamson Link to this
Has the Minister seen the statement by the chair of the Auckland Regional Council, Mike Lee, when asked whether he thought Auckland’s transport infrastructure would cope with the Rugby World Cup: “I can say it will, but it will barely cope, and the point is we need to do better than that. We really need to be striving for excellence rather than putting up with the mediocre.”; if so, what will the Minister do to address the enormous shortfall in funding for Auckland’s infrastructure over the next 5 years before the Rugby World Cup takes place?
Chairman Lee would reply, if asked, that this Government is the best Government of recent times and a whole bunch better than the Government we replaced. He went on to say in his press statement of 28 March, yesterday, that the Auckland Regional Council is looking at a variety of alternative funding sources to achieve the level of investment necessary for public transport. The Auckland Regional Council is very, very pleased with the Government.
Hon Paul SwainCould the Minister advise whether transport projects in Auckland would be due for completion by 2011 if the roading network had been privatised, as was promoted by the previous National Government?
The member, a former Minister, raises a very good question. The truth of the matter is that the Government spent much of the 1990s arguing about who in this country should own the roads. Who do members think should own the roads? [ Interruption] OK, we should. That is the answer. It did not take a decade; it took a nanosecond. That is the difference between this Government and the previous one, which let ideology overcome common sense.
Peter Brown