better way. So I would like too commend the bill to the House. Thank
you.
commend the bill to the House. Thank you. Peeni Henare.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the third
and final reading
of the Land Transport Amendment
Transport Amendment Bill (No 2). There have been some
meaningful contributions across the House
on this particular bill and there are
some very good mechanisms in this
bill as mentioned by
the member who has just taken his seat. I
want to speak to several of the points that
have been raised and one of
those in particular is, of course, Uber.
My colleague has talked about some of
the tax question marks that still
sit on multinationals but I want to
make it clear because the Government
members of this House are
suggesting that we on this side of the House
in this country were all for Uber coming. They were. That's what
they said in their presentation to the
select committee, in
their submission, all they asked for was a
level playing
level playing field, a level playing field. They
field. They welcomed the competition. Competition is a good
thing for the market. We know
that. All they asked for was
that drivers who drive for Uber have to operate
just like they do on a fair,
level playing field. I think
that's fair to ask for. Sadly what this bill
does though, however, is actually
create a disadvantage for many
of those taxi companies. What it
does too, sir, is we know that. We
see this everywhere we go. Taxi
drivers will drive all day, stick to the
books, do what they are supposed to
do, by the law and
then at the end of the day take their magnet off and
of the day take their magnet off and
then go and drive for Uber
and go and
then go and drive for Uber and go do,
then go and drive for Uber and go and drive for Uber. They
are a danger on the road, they are a
danger to themselves, to the driving
public and to the
public at large.
acceptable hours and driver fatigue is a serious issue in this country.
Let's be real about that. You can
is a serious issue in this country. spot an Uber car a mile away
because they generally look like one of the
taxi cars that you've probably just
taxi cars that you've probably just
got out of on the way to the airport
or from the
airport here to or from the airport here to
parliament. Simply
parliament. Simply remove the sticker and all of a sudden they are
sticker and all of a sudden they are
an Uber car. That is not fair. I
want to speak about fairness to a
sector of our community, one of the
sector of our community, one of the
most vulnerable
most vulnerable sectors of our communities, and that is
the disabled, in particular the
side of the House rave on about how technology will solve this issue
for them, how technology or
a particular app will be able to tell them
who the driver or what taxi driver, what
taxi company, what cab
rank, all the rest of it. Here is something for
that side of the House, sir, the
disabled community earn
than average wage here in New Zealand.
than average wage here in New
costs, with the rising cost of living, how are they expected to
have the kinds of
technology that that side of the House says will
solve this
that side of the House says will
father, his eye sight was failing him towards the sunset of his
life and we tried as hard as we could to
say,
and we tried as hard as we could to
is going to change your world. You can connect to all of your mocka
puna across
can connect to all of your mocka
because the buttons were big enough for him to see. How
are you going to
house they brush off a submission from an important part
of our community, they brush it
off by saying technology
saying technology will solve their problem. I reiterate the point,
less than your average income in New Zealand was a 2015 statistic. I
dare say that has actually
increased. I dare say that
say that has actually increased. I
Because we refuse to make taxi companies put a
braille sticker on the car at a cost of
approximately
We have marginalise a part of our community. It shows just how out of
touch this Government really is. So
I'm disappointed
I'm disappointed in that particular part of this bill. We say
I'm disappointed in that particular part of this bill. We say to
those community, Kokaha, when we take over
that side of the House,
the Government bench, we will be
fixing this because the heart
felt submissions made to
the select committee actually opened
even my eyes to the issues, sir.
My eyes to the issue.
Fleeing
Fleeing drivers. I agree with the sentiments by my colleague Mr
Stuart Nash, fantastic MP for Napier,
around making sure there is an
element in this
particular
deter drivers from fleeing. That is important. We see it
far too often. And in places like South Auckland we
have noticed an increase, sir, of
drivers
have noticed an increase, sir, of And
have noticed an increase, sir, of drivers fleeing. Recently
a motorcyclist took off from the
cops and,
motorcyclist took off from the cops and, sadly, ran into trouble at
a traffic intersection
traffic intersection and sadly, and,
traffic intersection and sadly, passed away. So there needs to
be stronger mechanisms and legislation
to ensure this doesn't continue
to happen and it must have the effect
of deterring people from
fleeing from the police. Sir, one of
the things that always concerns me when
we push through bills in
the House and we know this particular bill,
sir, has some aspects to
it that will require significant resource.
One of those is for fare evasion.
This particular bill has a clause
that will look to
clamp down on those who evade a fare on a
public transport system a growing public
transport consumer base suggests
that the numbers are large in
one area. I recall the submission to the
select committee and
area. I recall the submission to the select committee and was
surprised by how much money
is lost from those failing to pay their
fare on public transport.
failing to pay their fare on public transport. How do we expect
to
the bill gives authority to some councils and to police, public
councils and to police, public
transports around
transports around Auckland in particular, but I know Wellington
as they gave a good submission, the
Wellington Council, but exactly how
can we expect this to be, to have
the capacity to make sure that those
who do catch the
public transport system pay their
who do catch the public transport
also touch on another part of capacity. I know that
the SOP included in this bilby Mr Jamie
Lee Ross is a good one. pp App
I understand why he's done that. I'm
sure some of us notice an increase.
I
I think
I think you can't manouvre around many places in my
constituency without seeing these people out
to sure
without seeing these people out to make a buck, in Tamaki Makaurau.
Gangs and groups of
men, usually young boys, out to make a
buck washing windows, intimidation
tactics, drivers felt unsafe. Here
is another question and
it's just like the fare evasion. We all
know that Great South Road is very long,
intersections across
intersections across Tamaki Makaurau. Is this a burden on
a police force
police force already inundated in
intimidation tactics and bad behaviour and
behaviour and criminal behaviour, but I wonder in terms of it being a
priority for a police force that is
struggling under the weight of work
that they have to cope with at
this point in time I can't help
but think exactly how
point in time I can't help but think
we going to make sure that we support the officers and
those who are clamping down on window
washers
my, to close my contribution, I want to talk about a great group in
Manakau City, Maori. They made
it clear to me how hard the struggling
are getting around Tamaki Makaurau.
I want to apologise to them for the
failure of this
Government to make sure those vision impaired
people sure
actually can. Jamie Lee Ross. Much of this bill is
around safety, around public
safety and
around safety, around public safety around
around safety, around public safety and ensuring that the land
transport legislation works better for New
Zealanders and we've seen
debated in the House already the
changes within this bill, around
alcohol interlocks, which will ensure that
there's greater penalties there
and greater use