National revealed it would “absolutely” kill Let’s Get Wellington Moving and Auckland light rail while Chris Hipkins danced with reporters on the difference between government and party policy on both, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.
Picking up where Catherine left off yesterday, National’s full transport policy was revealed in Hamilton yesterday where it was confirmed they would “absolutely” (but not positively) kill the region’s big transport plan, Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM). Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said National’s plan would do nothing to grow the city. “We need to unlock investment in the city, not dampen it with a flaccid vision,” she said. The chairperson of Greater Wellington Regional Council, Daran Ponter, said that while it might sound dramatic to say the party is going to get rid of the plan, “it sounds like they’re still going to deliver on those big-ticket items the administration committed to six-and-a-half-years ago.”
Hipkins’ hat swapping
As The Post’s Andrea Vance reports this morning (paywalled), neither prime minister Chris Hipkins nor transport minister David Parker would commit to backing LGWM yesterday. The scheme is 60% central government funded. Hipkins said it was being reassessed as Labour developed its transport policy ahead of October’s election. Tellingly, Vance writes, “he did refer to it in the past tense – and said he was unhappy with progress.” Yesterday’s post-cabinet press conference descended into a round of Hipkins refusing to rule transport plans in or out as he finds himself increasingly swapping his prime ministerial hat for the “Hutt-issue headgear” of Labour leader. Newsroom’s Jo Moir writes that Hipkins is stuck in “limbo land”, both governing and being called on to answer questions about Labour’s election campaign, as other parties kick into campaign mode.
National confirms Auckland light rail to be scrapped
In the least surprising transport announcement of the campaign, National confirmed they would scrap the Auckland light rail project, favouring the building of seven new roads and public transport projects in the country’s largest city. When asked whether the government’s “close look” at transport policy included Auckland light rail yesterday, the prime minister said “the government’s been looking closely at light rail in Auckland for some time”, “government policy on that has not changed” and when asked if it was “Labour party policy to complete light rail to the airport in Auckland?”, he repeated that he was not “announcing Labour party policy for the next election today.” Government policy on transport is due in the form of the long-awaited government policy statement (GPS). As Newsroom’s Emma Hatton reports, the transport and infrastructure sector is getting increasingly frustrated by the delay. Parker has said it will be done by the end of this month. It was meant to be published in draft form for consultation earlier this year but then-transport minister Michael Wood was sent back to the drawing board.
Road costing spat, no climate impact assessement
As Stewart Sowman-Lund reports from Wellington, the National party’s $24b transport policy unlocked a spat over costings. Parker says National was using outdated costings that don’t take increased construction costs into account. National’s Simeon Brown issued a clarification yesterday evening saying that the party’s vision of a four-lane highway from Tauranga to Northland wouldn’t be achieved for another three terms, at least. As the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan details (paywalled), National’s leader Christopher Luxon could not answer a question about the cost of the second Mt Victoria Tunnel on Newstalk ZB yesterday. “For someone whose pitch is bringing C-suite rigour to the podgy lackadaisical world of government, the flub was deeply embarrassing,” he writes. Both parties came under fire from Coughlan who notes they’ve both ended up similarly committed to roads and that in 2020 Labour decided not to attach a cost to the Auckland light rail project in its manifesto. Coughlan also notes that it’s “iffy that Labour’s main attack on National comes from the fact it had silently engaged public servants to re-cost some of the policies itself for the draft GPS”. Addressing the issue of big road energy on the climate, Stuff’s Bridie Witton cites the University of Canterbury’s Bronwyn Hayward who says National’s plans came without a roadmap on how it would drive down carbon emissions.