Land Transport Amendment Bill (No 4)
In-committee
Hon NATHAN GUY (Associate Minister of Transport) : Mr Chairperson, thank you very much for allowing the Committee to have a broad debate on a very important bill, the Land Transport Amendment Bill (No 4). The bill will toughen up the legislation with regard to those who decide to pop a whole lot of pills or to inject a drug into their arm and then go driving behind the wheel. It is important that we protect the other motorists on the roads.
There has been a lot of discussion on this issue. Unfortunately, I was not part of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee that heard the evidence, but just today I have had a thorough briefing from the officials, who, I believe, have done some sterling work on this bill. There has been some cross-party discussion on some of the Supplementary Order Papers that we will get to in the debate this afternoon. This Parliament needs to send a very strong message across the whole of New Zealand that driving while drugged up is not appropriate, nor is driving under the influence of alcohol.
This is an important bill. It is heading in the right direction. The Supplementary Order Papers on the Table are wide ranging. I acknowledge in particular the work that the Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce, has done in his Supplementary Order Paper 10, which will, I think, encompass a lot of what the Hon Trevor Mallard—
Hon Trevor Mallard: It’s got the same policy intent.
Hon NATHAN GUY: It does have the same policy intent, and that is important. I acknowledge the discussions that had gone on before we got to the Committee stage today.
I know there will possibly be some discussion and debate on the classes of drugs: whether the bill covers class A, class B, or class C, and whether the drug can be picked up relatively easily when a blood sample is taken. I know from listening to the officials today that heroin does not last very long in the blood, and that LSD cannot be picked up from a blood sample but from a urine sample only, I understand. I am sure the focus this afternoon will be on class A drugs, which are the serious ones. They are picked up in schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Act. The other important thing we need to be aware of is that from time to time when a person is hospitalised, the general practitioner or the surgeon may administer a drug caught in the schedule; the example there would be morphine.
This bill is heading in the right direction. I think it has broad support across a lot of the Committee this afternoon. I look forward to hearing the debate. I acknowledge the work of the Minister, the Hon Steven Joyce, and the officials.